The President of the BSPC, Prof. Dr. Jānis Vucāns, addressed the 47th Plenary Session of the PABSEC General Asssembly in Moscow. He underlined the crucial need for the joint fight against international terrorism as well as for solving the refugee crisis, which the BSPC Standing Committee had dealt with extensively throughout the Latvian BSPC Presidency. He expressed his sincere condolences to all the victims and the families affected by the terrorist attacks on Istanbul Ataturk Airport on 28 June.
“It is the job of politicians to ensure that people are safe and feel safe”
“All across the world people feel threatened by terrorism and it is the job of politicians to ensure that people are safe and feel safe. But we must also look out that we do not solely focus on defending our security, but also on defending the values that make us strong. People coming together is the basis for any cooperation. But cooperation also contributes to peace.”
“Cooperation is more important than ever before”
Mr Vucāns emphasized that this has been the main objective of the BSPC ever since its foundation in 1991. “National and regional parliaments around the Baltic Sea, including EU Member States, the Russian Federation and Norway, came together after the Fall of the Iron Curtain to form a forum for political dialogue between our parliaments. The sea that once divided is now a sea of peace and freedom. But there is no denying the fact that there have also been signs of tension in the Baltic Sea Region. Especially in times like these, cooperation is more important than ever before, especially also at the inter-parliamentary level. The representatives from the countries around the Baltic Sea, who have been chosen by their constituents, must jointly work towards maintaining the peaceful cooperation that has characterized the region for the past 25 years.”
Silver Jubilee of the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference
The President informed that the BSPC will remember its Silver Jubilee at its conference later this year in Riga, where issues of cooperation in the region will be given special attention. The conference will furthermore focus on issues related to the labor market and labor mobility in the region, namely on “how to develop competitiveness in the Baltic Sea Region by linking education and the labour market”, as well as on “realising employment opportunities – improving labour mobility and combating youth unemployment”. “Both issues are of fundamental importance to achieve the common goal of a prosperous region.”
“Cooperation at parliamentary level has intrinsic value”
Concluding his remarks, Mr Vucāns underlined that it is the strong belief of the BSPC that cooperation can be fostered if it focuses on concrete issues, which actually advance the wellbeing of the people. “Because of the variety of topics the BSPC deals with, we will always seek an exchange of opinions and ideas with other inter-parliamentary organizations. We believe in the importance of parliamentarians from different regions coming together and standing together as friends. Against the background of the variety of topics we deal with and the current political situation in Europe, cooperation at parliamentary level has intrinsic value because such cooperation involves the elected representatives of the citizens of the participating countries.”
Meetings in the margins of the conference
The BSPC President met with the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Mr Petro Agramunt, in the margins of the conference about the refugee crisis, ways of combating international terrorism and the “No hate, no fear” initiative recently launched by PACE.
Jānis Vucāns also met with Mr Alexey Sergeev, the Secretary General of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Together with the Head of the BSPC Secretariat Bodo Bahr they discussed prospects of further cooperation on relevant issues of the international agenda, with a special focus on environmental cooperation. The BSPC President shared on the BSPC activities in the spheres of education and youth and expressed his hope that the IPA CIS would attend the upcoming 25th BSPC in Riga, during which these topics will play a main role.
Jānis Vucāns also invited the PABSEC President and President of the Serbian parliament, Ms Maja Gojković, to the 25th BSPC, who will speak at the BSPC’s Silver Jubilee conference this August in Riga.