CBSS Engages in 2024 EUSBSR Annual Forum to Address Baltic Sea Region’s Sustainability and Security

The CBSS joins stakeholders in Visby this week for the EUSBSR Annual Forum 2024, an event focused on sustainability, resilience, and security.

• Posted October 28, 2024
• CBSS, Regional Identity, Safe & Secure Region

The Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) joins key stakeholders this week in Visby, Gotland, for the 2024 Annual Forum of the European Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR). Hosted by the Swedish Government and the Nordic Council of Ministers, the forum is expected to bring together 650 participants, unified under the themes of sustainability, resilience, and security.

The EUSBSR Annual Forum, running from 29 to 31 October 2024, serves as a platform for cross-border cooperation in tackling shared challenges among Baltic Sea countries, with a strong emphasis on collaboration across government levels and sectors.

The forum will feature three plenary dialogues-focusing on bioeconomy, transportation, and energy-all of which will be live-streamed on the EUSBSR website.

These plenary sessions are expected to highlight the complexity of today's societal issues, where sustainable development and security concerns intersect with economic and environmental imperatives.

The CBSS, as a coordinating body of regional policy and co-coordinator of the EUSBSR's Policy Area Secure (PA Secure), will actively participate in the forum.

The CBSS is notably engaged in or co-organising the following sessions:

• Wednesday, 30 October, 11:15-12:45: Food Security and Home Preparedness. The workshop will examine how food security and preparedness in Europe have been influenced by recent changes in geopolitics, focusing on the Baltic Sea Region.
• Thursday, 30 October, 16:45-18:15: Recipes for Resilience - Communities, Culture and Comprehensive Security. Researchers, national agencies for civil protection, local authorities, and Ukrainian stakeholders will explore how different resilience narratives can come together to shape a regional approach to comprehensive security.
• Thursday, 31 October, 11:00-12:30: High-Level Dialogue on Resilience Through Cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region. Directors General of civil protection authorities and high level decision makers will discuss how Baltic Sea states can work together to ensure a resilient, safe, and secure region in the face of an increasingly challenging security landscape.

The EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region was established as a framework for cooperative action among the eight EU member states bordering the Baltic Sea.

The CBSS is due to organise the next EUSBSR Annual Forum in Gdańsk, Poland, in 2025 with its Polish partners.

For more information about this year's forum, please visit the official EUSBSR Annual Forum website.