Speech by Dr Artis Pabriks

Page 1:Mta Or && cs“QRS&3 rKa seasLatvian Presidency 2007-2008ogCheck against deliveryIntervention by His Excellency Mr. Artis Pabriks, Latvian Foreign Minister and theCBSS Chairman at the 16" Baltic Sea Parliamentary ConferenceSehr geehrter Herr Vorsitzender, meine Damen und Herren Parlamentarier, EureExzellenzen, meine Damen und Herren,Mit groBer Freude wende ich mich an die 16. Ostseepariamentarierkonferenz.Ich méchte mich zunachst bei Herrn Bundestagsprasident Dr. Norbert Lammert fiir seineGastfreundlichkeit und die uns gegebene Mdglichkeit, diese Konferenz hier in Berlinabzuhalten, bedanken.Es ist fiir mich sehr ermutigend zu beobachten, wie die beginnende Kooperation mit denParlamentariern fortgesetzt wird. Und noch mehr freue ich mich auf eine noch nahereZusammenarbeit in Zukunft, denn wir verfolgen die gleichen Ziele: die Starkung einergemeinsamen Identitét in der Ostseeregion und die Foérderung der sozialen, derékonomischen und der demokratischen Entwicklung in der Region. Und wir haben diegleiche Ambition: Unsere Region an die Spitze Europas zu fithren.Let me continue in English.In order to achieve this, closer cooperation, better coordination of actions and regulardialogue among BSPC, CBSS and other regional organizations, intergovernmental actorsshould be introduced. In the 15 years since the foundation of the CBSS umbrella forum,our inter-governmental cooperation has changed dramatically. Today, governments aloneare no longer in the driving seat. Instead businesses, local authorities, universities. non-governmental organizations and independent organisations are the actors who cooperateand lead the way - this is most encouraging. Therefore this reality must be reflected in theway in which we design regional cooperation today as well as in the future - and this alsoapplies to the CBSS. This ts why the Foreign Ministers of the CBSS. at their meeting inPage 2:Malm&, Sweden on 13 June 2007, weicomed the reform of the CBSS and a developmentof an overail strategy for the Baltic Sea Region.BSPC has expressed its support to the development of the Strategy for the Baltic Searegion and I consider it encouraging moving forward this idea during Latvian presidencyin the CBSS. We urgently need a strategy providing guidance for our region’s everydayneeds, problems and challenges with a long-term vision fot a successful collective futureMoreover, this strategy should be an evidence of political commitment of the region’sgovernments addressing the needs and challenges of the region and also as @ reference orguidelines for the organizations, institutions, both public and private, governmental,inlergovernmental or non-governmental working in the region to conform their goals,initiatives and activities to broader region’s long-term development goals. Also, everyregional actor in this strategy should find its unique role in implementation of the goalswe wil] be agreed upon.Obviously it is a task that cannot be compicted within a year, and it must be seen in thewider context of the general development of the EU. That is why we are aiming at anactive involvement from the European Commission. We, of course, would also expectand welcome input from the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference.According to the Malmo Declaration CBSS under Latvian presidency will develop itsreform proposal to be presented in June next year, where redefinition of priorities,institutional restructuring and reconsideration of financial resources will be the mainIssues.Ladies and Gentlemen,Regarding Latvian presidency in the CBSS, reform of organization and strategy for theBaltic Sea region is only one part. We have defined two gaals of our CBSS presidency -sustainable development and competitiveness. To reach these goals we have 3 priorities —energy, education and civil security. Sustainable development very much deals withenergy, maritime policy, and environment, as well as with civil security issues, liketrafficking of human beings, organized crime. But competitiveness keeps in step witheducation issues.We share the same opinion on importance of energy issues in the region, We recognizethat it is, indeed, a very ot issue in the global debate, because everyone acknowledgesthe crucial role of energy in sustaining rapid economic growth. However, cnergy also canhave a negative impact, because it is asserted that energy consumption contributes toglobal warming. Power industries mean economic security and at the same time aresponsibility towards the coming generations. Therefore a competitive energy market,the development of energy infrastructure and the active use of the evolving renewableenergy resources are crucial questions for the further development of our region, but wecannot forget about environmental protection. Taking into account that energy questionsare more and more connected with security issues, | believe that we have to think of theinterconnectivity of our power grid. During our Presidency we will be working activelywith BASREC and Baltic 2] to monitor the situation and give positive input to therelevant policy frameworks that are undet constant review in our region. f am glad thatthis topic will also be given priority here in the next hours.Page 3:The Latvian Presidency agrees with BSPC on devoting more attention to the field ofmaritime policy. Latvia has included a task of establishment of a new Ad-hoc Task Forceon Maritime Safety in our presidency action plan and again we thank for support from theBSPC side. Latvia and other BSR countries are concerned about safety issues ofincreased shipping in the region, like double hulling and improved logistics and thereforethese issues should be placed on the political table as priority issues. Failing in line withEU ideas on maritime safety, but trying to move ahead and enact a more reliablemechanism for controlling the cleanliness and reliability of shipping in the mosttrafficked sea area of Europe is our intention. Our joint efforts, and here I stress again thatwe are looking forward to your active participation and input, going in some casesagainst short-term national interests in the name of long-term sustainable region’sdevelopment. That will determine the level of political involvement by the membercountries.Trafficking in human beings is another important issue, because the Baltic Sea Regionencompasses places of origin, transit and destination for many trafficked persons. Latviafor example is now experiencing a switch from being an origin country to a destinationcountry. We plan to organise several training seminars where state officials, diplomats,experts and NGOs will discuss and learn about both preventive and operational measuresfor dealing with this issue. There is stit] a need to improve legislation in this field.Therefore we attach high importance to the CBSS Task Force against Trafficking inHuman Beings in combating this problem through efficient and constructive cooperation.In the field of civil security we will continue the work started by Poland within theWorking group of Democratic Institutions tackling corruption issues. We wil! concentratespecifically on corruption in the context of good governance, state of public officials,especially such issues like conflicts of interest, recruitment and post-recruitment and anti-corruption tools in public institutions.The second goal of our presidency is competitiveness and in this context I would like tostress importance of education.I see education as the main tool for creating knowledge based society and developinghigh value added production. It is very promising that almost all governments in theregion have a clear vision that we should invest into education, science and creativeindustries in order to enhance productivity. For example, our neighbors in NorthernEuropean countries have a whole set of outstanding companies, like Nokia, Volvo, Saab.IKEA, Lego, Ericsson, etc,, and there is no reasonable argument why the ‘new’ countries,by having wise policy and proper investments, could not create world-class brands oftheir own, The first good example of this is Skype. created by Danes and Estoniansworking together. So, CBSS has to Jook closely on the competitiveness of highereducation, the infrastructure of science, student mobility, and, broadly speaking. on theprocess of bringing the innovations into education and science.wePage 4:Finally, I return to one of our common goals ~ regiona! identity of the Baltic Sea region,which should be recognized, strengthened and used for our own common good. We don’tlook alike, we don’t speak one language, we don’t live in one country and we don’t havea joint team in world ice hockey championship. But we share the Baltic Sea, a commonhistory, values and spirit of dynamism, skillfulness and creativity. However, what is moreimportant — we share the same dreams about our region’s future: to be competitive,stable, advanced and always a developing region. Therefore one of the largest initiativesof Latvian presidency in the CBSS is the project Baiticness which is a year long series ofpublic events taking place in 11 Baltic Sea Region cities to promote the notion ofBalticness, awareness of the region’s unique comparative advantages and values and theBaltic Sea as the life artery for the people living around it. The project Balticness shouldbe our contribution to the branding of the region,Project will initiate discussions among students in all the CBSS countries aboutchallenges and opportunities that we in the region are now facing, and what can we doabout them. Moreover, a photo exhibition showing uniting symbol of our region — theBaltic Sea — by young photographers’ eyes and jazz performances of musicians from allour countries will underline our Balticness, belonging to the region, commonunderstanding and advantages of our cooperation.I would like to wish this conference instructive and thorough discussion and took forwardto the outcomes that I hope will present a solid platform for the collaborative work thatwe will need to embark on over the next ten months.Thank you for your attention,