Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference
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The 12th Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference OULU SEPTEMBER 8-9, 2003 The Baltic Sea Region – An Area of Knowledge Leena-Kaarina Williams (Editor) CONTENTS OPENING OF THE CONFERENCE 5 PAAVO LIPPONEN 5 JAN-ERIK ENESTAM 7 KARI NENONEN 10 MIKKO LOHIKOSKI, The 3rd Baltic Sea NGO Forum 12 RISTO ERVELÄ, Baltic Sea States Subregional Co-operation (BSSSC) 14 SIIRI OVIIR 15 SANDRA WEIDEMANN 16 MIKKO LOHIKOSKI, Union of Baltic Cities (UBC) 17 MARKO MÄLLY 18 ALFREDO BIONDI 19 OLEG SALMIN 21 FIRST SESSION 23 CO-OPERATION IN THE BALTIC SEA REGION 23 Report on behalf of the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Standing Committee on the developments since the 11th Parliamentary Conference 23 OUTI OJALA 23 Report on behalf of the CBSS 26 KRISTIINA OJULAND 26 Democracy at a Crossroads 30 H.E. HELLE DEGN 30 A regional approach for marine environment protection: the aspect of safer shipping 34 INESE VAIDERE 34 Common measures to combat environmental risks of increased shipping 38 HANNA MATINPURO 38 BRIEF COMMENTS 41 SYLVIA BRETSCHNEIDER 41 ASTRID THORS 43 ASMUND KRISTOFFERSEN 44 VATANYAR YAGYA 45 ANKE SPOORENDONK 46 OLE STAVAD 46 FOLKE SJÖLUND 47 2 ELENA KALININA 48 SECOND SESSION 49 KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY IN THE BALTIC SEA REGION 49 Knowledge Society – What does it mean? 49 INGE LØNNING 49 The Baltic states on the move towards a Knowledge Economy 52 ALGIRDAS KUNCINAS 52 Bottom-up Strategies to the Knowledge-based Society - Meeting the Future in the Baltic Sea region 56 BERND HENNINGSEN 56 State policy of the Russian Federation in Information and Communication Technologies 61 ANDREY KOROTKOV 61 BRIEF COMMENTS 64 DOROTHEE STAPELFELDT 64 EKKEHARD KLUG 65 ARJA ALHO 66 THIRD SESSION 66 KNOWLEDGE-BASED SOCIETY AND ITS IMPACT ON THE LABOUR MARKET IN THE BALTIC SEA REGION 66 Co-operation between science and industry 66 MARIE EHRLING 66 Labour market in the Baltic Sea region – future perspectives 69 KRZYSZTOF KRYSTOWSKI 69 Migration policy in Russia and its impact on the labour market 73 IGOR UNASH 73 Demographic situation and influence of education and competence on economic growth 76 TOIVO ROOSIMAA 76 DISCUSSION 78 TRIVIMI VELLISTE 78 IGOR UNASH 78 OUTI OJALA 79 3 KRYSZTOF KRYSTOWSKI 79 GIEDRĖ PURVANECKIENĖ 79 OLE STAVAD 79 IGOR UNASH 80 BRIEF COMMENTS 80 CHRISTOPH ZÖPEL 80 SØREN VOIE 81 MANFRED RITZEK 82 Adoption of the Resolution 83 KENT OLSEN 83 HEINZ-WERNER ARENS 84 ANNEX I 84 ANNEX II 88 4 Opening of the Conference PAAVO LIPPONEN The Baltic Sea region is one of the most dynamic areas in Europe. It has the potential for becoming a globally significant growth region, representing a market of approximately 100 million people. Despite of the recent slow growth in the world economy the Baltic Sea region has still achieved high growth rates. It has a strong basis for developing into a leading knowledge-based economy e.g. in information technology and biotechnology. Thus, the region greatly contributes to reaching European objectives of growth, competitiveness and job creation. Oulu is a leading growth centre in the Baltic Sea region, world-famous of its success in knowledge-based economy. Broad co-operation between enterprises, local and regional authorities and the university is working here – one of the secrets behind Finland's place at the top of world competitiveness ranking. The purpose of the Northern Dimension of the European Union is to stimulate sustainable economic growth and to increase welfare in Northern Europe. The most effective tool for realising this objective is to strengthen contacts and co-operation between states, enterprises and citizens. This will gradually lead to positive interdependence which is the best guarantee for peace and stability. The enlargement of the Union will further underline the importance of EU-Russia relations and of the Northern Dimension. As future member states, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland will bring an important contribution to the EU-Russia co- operation. The Union's share of Russia's foreign trade will rise to 50 percent. A major part of this trade takes place in the Baltic Sea region. The present EU-Russia border will become much longer. In the future, this border should no more be a dividing line of prosperity and well-being. We need to step up our joint efforts to promote regional cross-border co-operation and to increase people-to-people contacts between the enlarged EU and Russia. The Northern Dimension idea was launched and adopted as policy in 1997. During the past few years it has developed into a series of concrete projects. The most tangible results so far have been achieved in environmental protection. The construction of the south-west wastewater treatment plant in St. Petersburg has started. This is the largest single investment in improving the condition of the Baltic Sea during this decade. The establishment of the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership was another breakthrough. The EBRD, the European Commission, the NIB, the EIB and several others have committed more than 120 million EUR to the support fund. We hope that more countries will join the Partnership Fund and that the proposed projects are implemented as soon as possible. Progress has been made in environmental protection, but much is still to be done. The Baltic Sea is one of the world's most polluted seas, and the situation is critical in the Gulf of Finland. There is no single reason for this. All the countries at the 5 seaside are to blame for this situation. We need to pull our act together and protect the fragile nature of the Baltic Sea. Finland held the presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) until mid- June this year. One of the main concerns during the Finnish presidency was the safety of maritime transport, especially because of the increasing transportation of oil and its consequences on our sensitive marine environment. We still have to do a lot with this issue. Co-operation with the civil society in the Baltic Sea region continued during our presidency. The NGO Forum arranged in Turku in May 2003 was a success. Concerning labour market issues, Finland hosted a special Northern Dimension Forum in February 2003 in Helsinki. I have noted with satisfaction that the Baltic Sea Trade Union Network (BASTUN) has been invited to participate in the CBSS structures. I hope that a dialogue between the social partners can some day take place in the framework of our regional co-operation. We have here today at this conference the honour of hearing an intervention by Ms Helle Degn, CBSS Commissioner on Democratic Development. During the Finnish presidency the Council of the Baltic Sea States took the decision on the expiration of her mandate. This was based on the development of democracy in our region. And this development, Ms. Degn, has had an important role. I would like to express my gratitude to you, Madam Commissioner, and welcome you to this conference. The second Northern Dimension Action Plan has been prepared under the leadership of the European Commission. The active engagement of the Commission guarantees best that the Northern Dimension is a common policy of the whole enlarged EU and the partner countries. The European Commission and the Italian EU presidency will get our full support in the preparation of the second Northern Dimension Action Plan for the years 2004-2006. The new Action Plan is expected to be adopted during this autumn. I welcome the commission's active engagement in the implementation of the Action Plan. I hope that the co-operation between the present and the future member states of the EU and the Russian Federation and other partner countries functions well in preparing the new Action Plan. In the Northern Dimension, we need to improve the financing facility by extending the EIB's mandate to also financing infrastructure projects in Russia instead of focusing mainly on environmental programmes. Also the relocation of the EIB's current leading mandate must be balanced, so that more funds are allocated not only to the Mediterranean and to the Balkans but also to co- operation with Russia. For trade relations in this region, Russia's membership in the WTO will be of vital importance. In general, increased and improved co-operation and co-financing between the international financial institutions, private investors and public programmes is necessary for successfully implementing the Northern Dimension. Multi-sectoral cross-border co-operation across the EU's new border with Russia should become a priority in the new Action Plan. An important remaining task is to 6 prepare the ground for private sector investments by removing local barriers to trade and investment and by improving border crossing. The second Northern Dimension Action Plan should be broad, horizontal and expansive. In addition to environmental protection, energy co-operation, transport policy, development of the Information Society, human resources and knowledge capital should also be among priorities in our co-operation. In the energy sector, the goal is to create an integrated energy market and an efficient environmentally sound energy system for the Baltic Sea region. One of the fundamental objectives of the Northern Dimension is the enhancement of the welfare, health and security of our citizens. The major health risks – such as HIV and tuberculosis – call for joint action by us all. The second Northern Dimension Action Plan must recognise the need to enhance co-operation in social and health questions. The Northern Dimension Partnership in Public Health and Social Well-being has been broadly prepared and based on a Finnish-Norwegian initiative. The partnership will be launched at a high-level conference organised later this year in Oslo. I hope that the necessary financial resources can be allocated to this important partnership.