Czyz speech at 25 BSPC

Presentationby Ambassador Michał Czyżat the 25th Baltic Sea Parliamentary ConferenceRiga, 28-30August 2016Honorable Members of the 25th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference,It is my great honor and pleasure to be here in Riga and to report about the achievements of the Polish CBSS Presidency.But before starting I would like to thank and congratulate you for the support you have given us in particular through your last year’s resolution inviting CBSS Member States to restart the political dialogue. As you certainly know we had a meeting of Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs in June in Warsaw, but more about this later.The Polish presidency took place at difficult times. There are many reasons for that. Some of them originate in the region itself. Others are of external character heavily influencing our daily lives. Among them of the utmost concern is the situation in Ukraine with its serious and long-lasting implications for the entire region.The CBSS and the Baltic Sea area are currently confronted with the biggest challenges since the end of the cold war. The Council has been put to the toughest test ever, so have the up-to-date achievements of the Baltic Sea cooperation. The CBSS fundamental responsibilities with respect to protection of stability and prosperity as well as its core role as a forum for all multilateral, intergovernmental cooperation and dialogue in the Baltic Sea Region need to be recalled and strongly confirmed. This is our fundamental obligation to the people of the region seriously concerned with the diminishing level of trust and confidence. Otherwise the CBSS will not be in a position to fulfil its statutory duties. Inevitably a new reality requires necessary adjustments, also in the CBSS.From the start the main assumption of the Polish CBSS presidency has been to secure and consolidate the high level of cooperation achieved so far in the region, and to establish possible bridgeheads facilitating the future progress. We have been trying to do that by re-establishing the CBSS’ political leadership, closer cooperation between the CBSS and other regional actors, and by strengthening project orientation of the Council.The three top priorities chosen by us were Sustainability, Creativity and Safety. These concepts have been pursued within the framework of the three long-term priorities agreed by the CBSS in June 2014, i.e. strengthening regional identity, making the region sustainable and prosperous, and making it safe and secure.Under Sustainability we have been working on a new agenda for sustainable development in the BSR in areas where the CBSS is active, such as climate change, regional implementation of the new UN Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals, development of the Baltic Maritime Transport System, diversifying Energy Sources and Energy Efficiency, increased cooperation in Science, Research and Innovation, and in Tourism.Amongst activities worth mentioning is the adoption of the Declaration 2030 on the political level – one of the top Polish priorities which paves the way for the creation of a new Agenda of sustainable development for the BSR and its Action Plan;the first ever meeting of CBSS ministers of science took place on 16 June, in Kraków, thus opening a new chapter in the Baltic Sea cooperation;the 8th Baltic Sea Tourism Forum with ministerial level participation that took place in Gdańsk and Malbork on 22-23 September 2015;the Baltic Sea Labour Forum met in Gdansk on 18 November las year;the conference INTERREG changes the Baltic Sea Region. Stories that inspire, 23-24 May in Gdańsk;the VASAB conference ‘Achieving Good Living Environment: Territory Matters. What’s beyond 2030 for Macro-Region?” on 7 June in Warsaw;the 4th International Maritime Congress, 8-10 June in Szczecin.Poland also actively supported the XIV edition of the Baltic Sea NGO Forum which took place on 10-11 June in Gdańsk.With Creativity as keyword, we wanted to establish Culture as a driving force for social and economic development in the region. We believe it is in the culture sector, or with culture as a complement to other parts of the economy, many of the jobs in the future shall be created. We launched this part of the Presidency already last year with a Ministerial Session on Culture on 16 September in Gdansk, followed by a Conference on Culture as a tool for social and economic growth of the region, combined with a meeting of all key cultural organisations present in the region. In this field and amongst many other events I would also like to mention the Seminar on the potential of computer gaming industry in the Baltic Sea Region, 4-5 November last year in Krakow, and the meeting of the Senior Officials Group for Culture and the EUSBSR Priority Area Culture Steering Group, on 15 June this year.Under Safety Poland emphasised the importance of cooperation in civil protection as a means to strengthen resilience in the Baltic Sea region towards major emergencies and disasters. We focussed on civil protection enhancing the cooperation potential of civil protection services through e.g. improved interoperability, and improved environmental monitoring by means of exchange of radiological data. The CBSS family has many relevant networks in this field, and the CBSS Secretariat in Stockholm coordinates civil safety and security activity also within the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. In this context, we are currently looking into where a regional approach to new challenges caused by the current crisis in migration in Europe might add value. Here the CBSS is well positioned through its Task Force against Trafficking in Human Beings and its Expert Group on Children at Risk. As a start the CBSS Secretariat played a major role with the Union of Baltic Cities who organized a Conference on cities and refugee flows in Rostock in the middle of March. The CBSS Secretariat is through its Children Unit also preparing a conference in Stockholm on a regional dialogue regarding the challenge on unaccompanied migrant children. The meeting on violence against children organized by the CBSS Expert Group on Children at Risk, in cooperation with the UN SG special representative Ms. Moreno, with participation of senior representatives from all parts of the world took place in Stockholm on 30-31 May. Under the EUSBSR and the CBSS the Baltic Leadership Programme for future decision makers responsible for civil protection took place in Warsaw on 23-26 November last year. The 14th meeting of CBSS Directors General responsible for civil protection took place on 8-9 June in Gdańsk.Funding is always essential and this is where Parliamentary support is of utmost importance! The CBSS should have an ability to implement projects of importance for the region, including areas not sufficiently covered by other regional actors, such as soft security or regional identity. The Project Support Facility which proved to be very useful needs a continuation, maybe in a modified form, better responding to current needs. Perhaps the establishment of the proposed Baltic Sea Cooperation Fund would be worth considering to engage other financing sources through a “matching scheme”, something which would further develop synergy and cohesion in Baltic Sea cooperation. This concept was first pursued by the German CBSS Presidency 2011-12, but since supported by all Presidencies. The CBSS Secretariat is ready to engage additional financing partners on this, but needs a commitment by Member States to do so. The outgoing Polish Presidency would very much appreciate your support on this issue.Having all the above in mind Poland has been trying hard to underline the potential and importance of enhanced synergy, cohesion and coordination between organizations and cooperation formats in the BSR, especially with the European Union and its Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, where Poland was also in the chair of National Coordinators. As you know the CBSS Secretariat is directly involved in coordination of three EUSBSR Policy Areas and Horizontal Actions. We strongly believe that increased regional synergy and cohesion could be used as a powerful confidence building measure facilitating further progress of Baltic Sea cooperation.Hence, synergy in diversity was the main motto of the Polish presidency. It was our deliberate decision to combine both presidencies in order to pursue this synergetic thinking. In this spirit, in January, the Presidency and the Secretariat met in Brussels with representatives of European Institutions to discuss how to better cooperate in the Baltic Sea region and I believe even more can be done.In practical terms we have been pursuing regional synergy through Joint Meetings on issues of common importance, improving transparency and coordination. Whenever possible such meetings focused on specific fields and problems to solve.The Joint Meeting on culture between the National Coordinators of the EU Strategy for the BSR, the Northern Dimension Partnership on Culture, and the CBSS Committee of Senior Officials took place on 16 September 2015, in the margins of the Ministerial Session of the Ministers of Culture. The second one, on sustainable development, with the participation of representatives from the CBSS, Helcom, the Arctic Council, the Barents Euro-Arctic Council, the Nordic Council of Ministers, EUSBSR National Coordinators and relevant EUSBSR Policy Areas and Horizontal Actions was held in Warsaw, on 28 October last year. The third one devoted to practical steps aimed to improve synergy and cohesion between the CBSS and the EU in their activities in the BSR was organized on 12 April, in Warsaw. All meetings produced recommendations to be followed in the future.Looking ahead, with the aim to better prepare the CBSS to upcoming challenges, and again focussing on synergy in diversity we organized, on 9 March in Warsaw, the informal seminar involving the CSO members and prominent researchers knowledgeable in the Baltic Sea region on how best to proceed in building a “Common Space of Baltic Sea Cooperation”. It is very important to continue this process of strategic internal reflection on the future of the CBSS should the region remain prosperous, stable and integrated. Poland encourages the incoming presidencies to carry on this debate.In the spirit of enhanced regional synergy the CBSS Secretariat in its capacity as coordinator for neighbour cooperation within the EUSBSR organized a workshop in St Petersburg presenting the EU Strategy for Russian stakeholders, and discussing common ground between this Strategy and the Russian Strategy for socio-economic development of the North-West Federal District.The Stockholm EUSBSR Forum, planed for November 2016, will be of great importance also for the CBSS. It would be of a great significance as well if Russia would present at the conference its recently redesigned Strategy for socio-economic development of the North-West Federal District. The CBSS Secretariat is involved in the search for “common ground” between strategies. In addition, the Conference is an important stepping stone on the road to the Swedish CBSS Presidency next year.Before coming to the end of my presentation I would like to reflect about the meeting of Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs, which I already mentioned at the beginning of my presentation.The impact of global challenges on the Baltic Sea Region is growing. We are confronted with irregular migration, terrorism, climate change, energy security issue, health, demographic change, unemployment in particular with regards to young people, poverty and hunger, as well as water scarcity. This requires a strong response by all CBSS Member States at the regional level.The Warsaw Declaration which Deputy Ministers adopted on 8 June in Warsaw clearly confirms that the CBSS Member States, despite all differences and difficulties, uphold their regional commitments, have a strong feeling of responsibility for the region, and they are ready to build a common future by doing things together.Let me conclude by wishing the current Icelandic Presidency all the best in executing her demanding duties. We very much hope that in the nearest future the overall cooperation climate in the region will sufficiently improve so as to enable our Icelandic partners to organize a high-level celebration of the 25 anniversary of the CBSS next year.I would also like to express my gratitude to Mr. Jan Lundin – the outgoing Director General of the CBSS Secretariat – for his stupendous work done for the Council and for his personal contribution to the development of the Baltic Sea cooperation.And finally welcome the new Director General of the Secretariat – Ambassador Maira Mora. We wish her a good luck in executing her new duties.