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Valentina Pivnenko was elected Chairman of the BSPC for 2011-2012 at the BSPC Standing Committee meeting 28 August. Valentina Pivnenko has been a member of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation since 2000. She is Chairman of the State Duma Committee on North and Far East Issues. The 21 st Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference will be convened in St Petersburg on 26-28 August 2012. The Standing Committee also appointed Laine Randjärv Vice Chairman of the BSPC. Laine Randjärv is Vice President of the Estonian Parliament and Chairman of the Baltic Assembly Presidium.

The sixth and final meeting of the BSPC Working Group on Integrated Maritime Policy was convened in Schwerin on 20 June in the Parliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommen. The theme of the meeting was Port Infrastructure, and expert presentations were provided by Manfred Müller-Fahrenholz, Managing Director, Neptun Werft GmbH, Dr Hans-Jörg Wenzel, Project Manager, P+S Werften, Erik Andersson Pauldin, Public Affairs, Ports of Stockholm, Sten Björk, Project leader Clean Baltic Sea Shipping, port of Trelleborg, and Jörg Sträussler, technical Manager, Clean Baltic Sea Shipping, Baltic Energy Forum. The meeting also included a discussion and exchange of ideas with Lars Almklov, outgoing Chair of the CBSS Expert Group on Maritime Policy, Dietrich Seele, incoming Chair of the CBSS EGMP, and Stefan Musiolik, Chairman of the BSSSC Working Group on Maritime Policy. The Working Group also discussed its final report, to be presented at the 20 th BSPC in August, and finalized the political recommendations to be included in the final report and submitted to the BSPC Drafting Committee for the 20 th BSPC Resolution.

The seventh and final meeting of the Working Group was held in the Lithuanian Parliament on 16 June. The meeting was devoted to awareness raising on trafficking, and the Working Group got information, experiences and inspiration from Ms Marianne Gulløv, External Communications Manager, the Body Shop, Mr Anthony Jay, Head of Media and Communications, CBSS Secretariat, and Ms Giedre Blazyte and Ms Ona Gustiene, Missing Persons Families Support Centre, Lithuania. The Working Group also finalized its political recommendations on trafficking, which will be included in the final report of the group and conveyed to the BSPC Drafting Committee as input to the 20 th BSPC Draft Resolution.

“BSPC and CBSS share the basic tenet that all stakeholders of the Baltic Sea Region – from EU- as well as non-EU– countries – must be able to cooperate on an equal footing in order to find credible and sustainable solutions to the challenges of the Region“ said Christina Gestrin, Chairman of the BSPC, in her address to the 16 th CBSS Ministerial meeting in Oslo on 7 June. Speaking before Ministers and top officials of the CBSS countries, she pointed out that a great deal is undoubtedly being done to help the Baltic Sea recover and to promote prosperity and welfare in the Baltic Sea Region. However, challenges are persistent. “An expansion of nuclear power generation, for example, in spite of the recent German decision to phase out its nuclear power by 2022, places a great responsibility on the governments to set up extremely stringent conditions and regulations for operation as well as storage and processing of spent fuel. But this, in turn, also provide opportunities to intensify efforts to promote the development of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and green technologies. These fields hold great potentials for stimulating growth and strengthening the competitiveness of the Region“, she emphasized.

Roger Jansson, Vice Chairman of the BSPC Working Group on Integrated Maritime Policy, co-chaired a joint meeting with the maritime expert groups of CBSS and BSSSC in connection with the European Maritime Day in Gdansk on 19-20 May. “The intention of this common event is, basically, to promote a more regular and structured dialogue between the different levels of political decision-making in the region. We should all strive to build a Baltic Maritime Community by developing and sharing maritime knowledge, exchanging information and experience on best-practice examples. Thus, we can hopefully promote common objectives for the best of our region” said Jansson. “The meetings of the BSPC Working Group on Integrated Maritime Policy so far have shown that maritime safety and climate protection constitute the principal maritime challenges of the Baltic Sea Region. The harmful effects of ship-generated emissions and the designation of the Baltic Sea as an Emission Control Area have been at the centre of discussions”, Mr Jansson mentioned. “A more regular dialogue between our organizations can strengthen the combined impact of our efforts to promote competitiveness and environmental sustainability”, he stated.

“BSPC has called for active support to projects with the objective of reducing harmful emissions from ships and developing reception facilities for waste water from ships. In order to enforce the IMO ban from October 2010 on waste water discharge from passenger ships and ferries in the Baltic Sea, it is necessary that the states around the Sea urgently make adequate port reception facilities available” said Christina Gestrin, Chairman of the BSPC, in her keynote address to the European Maritime Day in Gdansk 19 May. “Strong measures are needed to improve maritime surveillance, safety of navigation and environmental risk reduction, for example by harmonizing and elaborating existing ship reporting systems and vessel traffic services. We have also strongly urged governments to strengthen the joint regional and national capacity to tackle major spills of oil and hazardous substances”, she stressed. The European Maritime Day, arranged by the European Commission, is the biggest annual maritime event in Europe, gathering close to a thousand participants. Follow the link to access the EMD homepage,

“A continued utilization of nuclear power requires strengthened efforts for safety and security”, said Valentina Pivnenko, member of the Russian State Duma and vice President of the BSPC, at the Parliamentary Round Table held in Murmansk on 27-29 April. International cooperation on nuclear safety must be further reinforced, and there is a growing need for international standards and a full and transparent information-sharing between nations”, she maintained . BSPC was also represented at the Round Table by Janis Reirs, vice President of the Baltic Assembly and member of the BSPC enlarged Standing Committee. “More attention should be paid to the development and use of safe and innovative technologies in the nuclear industry in order to protect human life and the environment from potential nuclear disasters”, he stressed. The Parliamentary Round Table, which is an annual event, gathered parliamentarians from the Russian Federation, the Nordic Council and the BSPC. The Final Statement from the Round Table can be retrieved from the Nordic Council website (external link):

The BSPC Secretariat took part in a meeting of the Committee of Senior Representatives of the Northern Dimension Partnership in Public Health and Social Well-being (NDPHS) in Oslo 14 th April. A number of proposals for cooperative actions were presented and agreed. NDPHS will, i a, appear at the 20 th BSPC to share their expertise and knowledge about the issue of alcohol and substance abuse and its consequences for social and economic development. This can serve as input to political opinion-building and decision-making in the field of health and social welfare. Click on the link to access the NDPHS website.

Franz Thönnes, member of the German Bundestag and BSPC’s representative in the Steering Committee of the Baltic Sea Labour Network, took part in the Committee’s meeting in Helsinki on 31 st March. The BSLN Steering Committee advocates the establishment of a Forum for Social Dialogue in the Baltic Sea Region with the aim of influencing policy- and decision-making in the field of labour market relations, promoting transnational social dialogue, and networking and exchange of experience between the social partners and political institutions in the Baltic Sea Region. The Forum will assemble tripartite representatives from the countries in the Baltic Sea Region once a year in an Annual Round Table meeting. The SC meeting also included a meeting with Russian stakeholders. “Well-functioning and fair labour markets are a key element in developing our welfare models in a fair and sustainable direction”, said Franz Thönnes. “North-West Russia is a very important part of the Baltic Sea Region, and that is why representatives from Russia have been invited to Helsinki to plan the future cooperation with us and to take part in the upcoming Forum for Social Dialogue.” Further information

Ways of improving competitiveness in the maritime sector was the main focus of the fifth session of the BSPC Working Group on Integrated Maritime Policy, held in the Parliament of Sweden, Stockholm, on 24 th March 2011. Expert presentations were given by Dr Gernot Tesch, Scandlines, and Dr Martin Kruse, Northern German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (Economic impact of the classification of the Baltic Sea as a sulphur emission control area (SECA)), by Mr Måns Jacobsson, former Director of IOPC funds (Oil spill liability and the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds), by Mr Bernt Stedt, Chairman of HELCOM Response Group (Response capacities to combat oil spills), by Ms Riita Pöntynen, Shortsea Promotion Centre Finland (Measures to improve co-modality), by Mr Pierre Schellekens, European Commission (EC communication on Maritime Spatial Planning), and by Mr Sten Jerdenius, VASAB (Baltic sea cooperation on maritime spatial planning). The meeting was also attended by Mr Lars Almklov, Chairman of CBSS Expert Group on Maritime Policy. The next and final meeting of the WG will take place in Schwerin on 20 th June. On that occassion, the WG will finalize its political recommendations.

Police, prosecution and the court of law were the main themes when the BSPC Working Group on Trafficking held its 6 th meeting in Riga on 4 March. Expert presentation were provided by Dimitrijs Trofimovs, Director of Sectoral Policy Department, Ministry of the Interior, Latvia, Arturs Vaišla, Head of Unit 3 for Fight against Trafficking in Human Beings and Soutenerism, the Organised Crime Combating Board, the State Police, Latvia, Aivars Bergmanis, Prosecutor of Specialized Prosecution Office to Combat Organized Crime and Other Specific Kinds of Crime, Prosecution General Office, Latvia, and Lasma Stabina, Senior Desk Officer of Policy Implementation Division, Sectoral Policy Department, the Ministry of the Interior, Latvia. The presentations and some pictures from the meeting can be found on the WG webpage . The WG also discussed a first draft of political recommendations for its final report. The meeting was well covered by Latvian media.

The Northern Dimension policy must be targeted on dealing with concrete challenges said Christina Gestrin, chairman of the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference, when addressing the 2 nd Northern Dimension Parliamentary Conference in Tromsö on 23 February. Climate change, energy efficiency, maritime safety and security and public health are major and pressing issues that require concerted efforts by all stakeholders in the north. We have always been supportive of the Northern Dimension, continued Gestrin, precisely because we believe that any viable long-term solution to the challenges of the Northern region must involve all stakeholders in the region. The Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership work has yielded very positive results, such as the waste water treatment plant in St Petersburg, but continued efforts are necessary. It is of utmost importance to sustain and develop projects within the Partnership to address the nuclear safety window, which aims at preventing and managing cross-border risks caused by nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel. We parliamentarians can exert political pressure on governments to fulfil their commitments and obligations, and act as watchdogs to make sure they do, concluded Gestrin.