Conference Resolution 28 BSPC

Conference ResolutionAdopted by the 28th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC) in Oslo on 27 August 2019The participants, elected representatives from the Baltic Sea Region States,assembling in Oslo, Norway, 25-27 August 2019,stressing the importance of continued and sustainable political dialogue in the Baltic Sea region pursued through the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS), which serves as an overall regional forum to focus on needs for cooperation and coordination among the Baltic Sea States,underlining the need for peaceful and close cooperation and neighbourliness based on democratic values, the rule of law, human rights as well as equal opportunities for all and urging the regular continuation of the CBSS Foreign Ministers meetings also under the Danish Presidency, furthermore calling again for a resumption of the Baltic Sea States Summits of the heads of governments if possible and closer cooperation at the level of other ministers, too;noting with appreciation achievements in developing practical cooperation in the Baltic Sea region within the framework of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, the Northern Dimension, cross-border cooperation programmes between the EU member states and Russia as well as the Interreg Baltic Sea Region programme;welcoming the efforts of the Latvian CBSS Presidency to improve coherence in Baltic Sea regional cooperation and acknowledging the progress of the CBSS – based on the priorities of Integrity and Social Security, Dialogue and Responsibility;highlighting the successful operation of the CBSS Project Support Facility as an efficient tool to support and encourage project – based cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region;approving of the detailed statements of the governments of the Baltic Sea countries on the 27th resolution of the BSPC and the intensive support of the calls for action;discussing Cooperation, Clean Oceans and the Future of Working Life as well as Migration and Integration;Call on the governments in the Baltic Sea Region, the CBSS and the EU,Regarding Cooperation in the Region, tostrengthen trust among all Member States of the Council of Baltic Sea States (CBSS) through further concrete efforts and measures;intensify the early involvement of the next generation and respect the next generation’s concerns more intensively in policy and decision-making processes via concrete measures of the governments to reinforce the foundations of trust and security in the Baltic Sea Region as an element of foreign policy;continue cooperation within the framework of the Northern Dimension, cross-border cooperation programmes between EU member states and Russia as well as Interreg Baltic Sea Region programme, and actively engage in developing new generations of these programmes for the future,conclude the current CBSS reform process and increase the focus on synergies between cooperation formats in the Baltic Sea Region, andexamine the possibilities to establish fruitful professional cooperation on the basis of international law – such as has existed very successfully for decades through institutions such as HELCOM in the field of environmental policy – in a comparable way in other policy areas as well,further strengthen measures to combat terrorism and violent extremism in line with human rights obligations and the rule of law – recognising that the effective fight against terrorism and violent extremism is an important pillar for the preservation of democracy, the spread of disinformation being one key element. Parliaments have a key role to play in this context, as well as in the awareness of all the measures taken to combat terrorism at the international level;Regarding the Future of Working Life, toimplement and exchange of ideas on the ministerial level as early as possible, involving the social partners’ current considerations and strategic approaches to meeting the considerable challenges with regard to ageing populations and thus pressures on pension systems, the new requirements of the labour market on skills and qualifications as well as digitalisation and further technological developments, the need for better synergies between educational systems as well as labour markets’ demands and increasing labour mobility regarding their impacts on economic growth, for example countries suffering from highly skilled and competent individuals leaving the country due to better opportunities abroad (brain drain), social cohesion (between social groups) and social sustainability (between generations);use the early exchange of current considerations and strategic approaches to meeting these challenges in the individual countries of the Baltic Sea region, the elaboration of common interfaces, but also the visualization of existing differences in the individual approaches as a decisive contribution to the joint further development of the entire region;consider long-term labour market forecasts, including scenarios for digitising the world of work, the development through qualifications, occupations, sectors and regions and to exchange continuous and long-term research results on the development of employment and the labour market in the countries of the Baltic Sea Region. On this basis, a better possibility is to be opened up for measures to meet the challenges posed to the labour market by demographic, technical and qualification-specific structural change, which will take account of developments throughout the Baltic Sea region;jointly discuss the enormous transformation of the world of work that can be expected from further digitisation in a forward-looking and early manner and to explore ways in which these can be better countered by comparable procedures;agree on fair framework conditions with regard to the design of working conditions in a digital economy and to further facilitate entrepreneurial activity across borders;improve gender parity and ensure stronger involvement of women in the workforce by enabling compatibility of career and family work as well as equal employment opportunity and thereby reducing the gender pay gap;step up the efforts to support youths who are currently not in employment, education, or training (NEET) back into education or the labour market - based on best practices and the results of cross-sectoral, transnational cooperation;Regarding Safeguarding the Oceans –Achieving the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals, toconsistently implement the amended Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal signed by 187 states, considering its amendment and decisions on plastic wastes, adopted on 10 May 2019 by the Fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal as important contributions to combating of the pollution of the seas by plastic waste in accordance with the resolutions of the BSPC;support the further development of a legally-binding, globally-reaching mechanism for managing plastic waste towards the consistent combating of the pollution of the seas by plastic waste in accordance with the resolutions of the BSPC;promote, through appropriate measures, the accelerated digitalisation of vessel traffic and green shipping to achieve the 2030 objectives as soon as possible;support the plastic waste partnership established by the Fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention to mobilize the resources, interests and expertise of business, government, academic and civil society to assist in the implementation of new measures to reduce the generation of these wastes, including microplastics, providing a range of practical support, including tools, best practices, technical and financial assistance;organise concerted action for appropriate regulation at the global level to strengthen e-navigation and pave the way for autonomous shipping;use the ongoing changes and processes on ecologically and biologically significant areas and maritime spatial planning systematically as a sufficient and necessary tool to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 14 on protecting and restoring ecosystems of the UN 2030 goals and intensify all continuing efforts in meeting the SDG 14 targets;jointly develop far-reaching measures and proposals for the UN Conference on oceans 2020 and try to further evolve these together at the UN level and achieve more decisive action at the international level to ensure political support for these measures in the field of improving the state of the oceans and its recovery;support in-depth marine research and innovation in the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity;ensure that the provisions of the UN Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (1991) (Espoo Convention) are complied with in the implementation of projects with transboundary impacts in the Baltic Sea area;ensure that large scale projects that affect the coastlines and coastal areas and that have a major impact on ecosystems in the Baltic Sea region have to comply with the obligations arising from relevant international treaties and conventions, including the Espoo Convention and the Helsinki Convention;with regard to the detection of unexploded ordnance and buried/deposited ammunition present in the Baltic Sea, and with reference to current HELCOM activities, work together and develop a cross-border, sustainable strategy for dealing with this, call on the CBSS to explore the possibility to create a financing tool, i.e. to monitor, contain/secure, salvage or destroy, as the unexploded ordnance in the Baltic Sea may constitute a danger to humans and the environment, especially with regard to shipping routes and coastal waters used by tourists; based on such monitoring results a commission of experts has to evaluate and analyse the risks outgoing from the buried/deposited ammunition annually and issue recommendations for action;Regarding Migration and Integration, toexplore the possibility of a Baltic Sea-wide agreement on the future management of migration;consider – as best practice examples – the implementation of “one stop institutions” where migrants can receive all necessary services in one place as well as the possibility of personal integration plans;take measures to facilitate direct and regular contacts between newcomers and locals, local institutions, civil society organisations, communities and individuals;support dialogue platforms as open and regular communication and coordination tools for involved stakeholders to broaden the societal dialogue;improve within the framework of strategic approaches to integration the receptiveness of host societies through increased democratic participation in integration, with a stronger focus on the municipal level as the area of daily coexistence;support and promote a municipal multi-stakeholder governance of refugee integration including systematic participation and multi-stakeholder exchange between politics, the business sector and civil society;examine the extent to which the regular exchange of best practice examples throughout the Baltic Sea region will make it possible to harmonise migration strategies;Furthermore, the Conference Decides, towelcome with gratitude the kind offer by the Parliament of Lithuania to host the 29th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference in Vilnius on 22-25 August 2020.