The participants, elected representatives from the
Baltic Sea Region States*, assembling in Riga, Latvia, 28-30 August
2016, taking into account a significant number of acts of international
terrorism that have occurred since the last BSPC in Rostock, August
2015,
condemn terrorism
in all its forms as a common threat for our citizens and our shared
values,
deplore the loss of innocent lives, express
sympathy and solidarity with the victims of all terrorist attacks,
their families and all those who suffered in these inhumane attacks,
express the crucial need for the joint
fight against this major threat to our societies and to uphold our
democratic values, while stressing that this fight has to respect
the rule of law and civil and human rights, discussing Cooperation
in the Baltic Sea Region, Innovation and Competitiveness in the
Baltic Sea Region by linking Education and Labour Market, Employment
Opportunities, Labour Mobility and Youth Unemployment, and Sustainable
Tourism,
against the background of the BSPC’s Silver
Jubilee recognizing the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference’s model
character as a platform for inter-parliamentary cooperation in the
region in the face of the current political climate;
committed to adapting experiences from
the past to a common future so that the integration of the Baltic
Sea Region shall be carried on while preserving regional identities;
convinced that respecting the rights of
minorities would provide a benefit for all regions in the Baltic
Sea Area;
welcoming that the implementation of the
Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference resolutions has progressively
become more comprehensive;
affirming the importance of the United
Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that is devoted
to the people, the protection of the planet, prosperity in harmony
with nature, peace and partnership, and believing in the necessity
of the implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, especially
Goal 14 which targets to conserve and sustainably use the oceans,
seas and marine resources for sustainable development;
welcoming the adoption of the Warsaw Declaration:
Regional Responses to Global Challenges at the Meeting of Deputy
Foreign Ministers of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS)
in Warsaw on 8 June, 2016;
welcoming the adoption of the Declaration
Baltic 2030: Renewing the Commitment to Sustainable Development
in the Baltic Sea Region adopted by the high representatives of
the CBSS government institutions responsible for sustainable development
on 6 June, 2016;
welcoming the acceptance of Chair´s Conclusions
of CBSS Science Ministers´ Conference called Baltic Science: Renewing
the Commitment to Science/Research Joint Actions in the Baltic Sea
Region in Kraków, on 16 June, 2016;
welcoming the International Maritime Organization’s
(IMO) decision that the Baltic Sea special area for sewage discharges
from passenger ships under Annex IV or the MARPOL Convention will
take effect by latest 2021 for IMO registered passenger vessels,
in line with previous BSPC resolutions; call on the governments
in the Baltic Sea Region, the CBSS and the EU,
1. welcome mutual cooperation
and peaceful solutions of international disputes taking into account
best practises for example in the Baltic Sea region;
2. take further steps to re-establish
mutual trust and dialogue in the Baltic Sea Region, in particular
within the Council of the Baltic Sea States in order to ensure the
most efficient use of the organization’s potential as a forum for
multilateral intergovernmental cooperation as well as political
and policy dialogue in the Baltic Sea Region;
3. further enhance regional synergy and
cohesion through deepening collaboration and structured dialogue
between organizations and cooperation formats in the Baltic Sea
Region;
4. further promote and encourage public-private practical
interaction as a tool for cross-border cooperation, economically
viable actions and projects for the benefit of the Baltic Sea Region, taking
into account and advancing the success of the Saint Petersburg Initiative
and encouraging fuller use of the CBSS Pilot Financial Initiative, if
the situation permits;
5. build on success of the CBSS Project
Support Facility as a tool for supporting the strategically important
project activities in the Baltic Sea Region, taking particular note
of Russia's and Finland's voluntary contribution to the Facility
for 2016, and to explore the possibilities for a continuation of
the CBSS funding facility in a form of the Baltic Sea Cooperation
Fund after 2016;
6. further strengthen and develop HELCOM
as the main coordinating body in the effort to protect the Baltic
marine environment, and to strongly support and encourage a fast
implementation of the Marine Litter Action Plan, as well as the
implementation of the NOx emission control area Roadmap for the
Baltic Sea, and to stress the importance of the Baltic Sea Action
Plan (BSAP) as one of the environmental pillars of the EU strategy
for the Baltic Sea Region;
7. discuss mutual definitions regarding
sustainable development throughout the Baltic Sea region and to
support innovations within green and blue technologies as well as
to create a joint web portal for the Baltic Sea region for sharing
good examples regarding research, education and environmental best
practices;
8. take the lead and coordinate development
of a new regulations framework for autonomous vessels with the aim
to make proposals to IMO as well as to support research, technology
development and standards for autonomous vessels;
9. continue cooperation between each
other in areas where mutual benefits and synergies can be achieved
among relevant regional strategies and action plans;
10. against the background of the general
competitive situation in the tourism economy as well as the current
tense situation in Europe to encourage transnational strategies
and long-term commitments for fostering cross-border approaches
primarily in the field of sustainable tourism in the Baltic Sea
Region;
11. closely work together in coping with
the ongoing challenges connected with the refugees in the region
and to continue to ensure the decent treatment of and the right
to safe asylum for these refugees in the countries of the Baltic
Sea Region;
12. foster closer cooperation and, as
far as necessary, following EU respectively UN declarations in tackling
illegal and irregular migration;
13. foster cooperation in the field of
research and innovation towards more competitive and sustainable
region;
14. pay greater attention to the issue
of ensuring predictability that could be strengthened through reciprocal
transparency and risk reduction measures. This is important in order
to avoid any unnecessary risks and tensions, including with regard
to the movement of military vessels and planes in the Baltic Sea
Region;
16. against this background
to support the New Skills Agenda for Europe;
17. provide vocational training and skills
development opportunities to young people which are geared to the
needs of industry and which, by way of generally recognized formal
qualifications, form one of the most important prerequisites for
workplace success;
18. strengthen the contacts between schools,
universities and business in order to make sure that university
education and vocational education and training are closely and
concretely oriented towards labour market and to identify as well
as to prevent labour market mismatches;
19. build on success of the CBSS EuroFaculty programme
as an example of long-term project-based cooperation in higher education
and science for the benefit of the people of the Baltic Sea Region
and to explore the possible steps forward for this programme;
20. foster the further development and
upgrade of skills (basic and specialized) and employability through
establishment of a right for lifelong learning;
21. improve transparency and comparability
of qualifications, and thereby to further develop the mutual recognition
of formal qualifications;
22. facilitate anticipating labour markets’
skills needs;
23. explore the need for a Northern Dimension Partnership
for Labour Market and Education to further develop education and
labour market in the Baltic Sea Region;
24. support business and education cooperation for
a sustainable economic area in the Baltic Sea Region, especially
a systematic exchange of expertise in the labour market and education
sectors;
25. strengthen the cooperation between
social associations, the social partners and governmental organisations
in a social dialogue;
26. support research and standardization
within cyber security, with focus on maritime context and applications
and to foster data governance in order to enable a fair and fertile
environment for new data driven services that will capitalize our regions
technology excellence and trigger high skill job creation;
27. implement the Baltic Sea Region as
a leading learning region;
28. call for more intensified “bottom-up”
collaboration and networking in order to pursue development and
synergies in specific areas of science, research, innovation and
clusters collaboration;
29. facilitate continuous dialogue and
collaboration in science, research, innovation and higher education
using existing political and regional formats and initiatives;
Regarding Employment Opportunities, Labour Mobility and Youth Unemployment,
to
31. support a common
jobs platform and to raise its awareness in order to harness its
full potential for the labour force of the Baltic Sea Region;
32. bring together national employment
services and private employment agencies, including the social partners,
in order to boost job seekers’ chances;
33. use and further develop good approaches such
as the EU's Youth Guarantee scheme in order to develop sustainable
and broad-based concepts for tackling youth unemployment and promote
the transition from school to working life;
34. provide targeted measures to NEETS
to integrate them successfully into training and work;
35. promote the integration of the long-term
unemployed in the labour market, using tried and tested methods
based on a coordinated and individualized approach which includes
employers;
36. also use for this purpose good approaches such
as the recommendation of the Council of the European Union on the
integration of long-term unemployed into the labour market;
37. pursue the goal of stepping up efforts
to encourage in particular low-skilled, long-term unemployed and
older employees to take part in continuing vocational education
and training;
38. further develop the promotion of
continuing training and improve the conditions for continuing training
provision geared to the acquisition of vocational training qualifications,
including for young adults;
39. facilitate mobility especially in
cross-border regions and to provide information services to frontier
workers who are subject to different national practices and legal
systems;
40. utilize cross-border capacities for
commuters in education and studies thereby understanding cross-border
commuting as a means to reduce the risk of unemployment;
41. make better use of the resources
of an ageing society;
42. facilitate cooperation between education
and business to enable young people to find work and employers
to fill vacancies;
43. rigorously and continuously pursue
the goal of reducing youth unemployment and opening up job prospects
and life chances for all young people, to use financial funds by
the European Union to this and to monitor results;
44. intervene at an early stage to inform
young people making the transition from school to work about pathways
and possibilities with respect to career development and promote
successful entry into the jobs market;
45. strive to ensure fair wages and to
work towards the reduction of subcontracted, temporary agency work
and temporary service contracts where permanent jobs are possible;
46. educate and integrate refugees into
the labour market as soon as possible and to exchange experiences
with best practice examples within the Baltic Sea Region. And also
embed the social partners comprehensively and at an early stage in
these efforts;
47. promote the participation of people
with disabilities in working life, where possible in business in
the general labour market, having regard for the principle of inclusion
in the meaning of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities;
48. support their public labour administrations
to promote the mobility of their citizens in the entire Baltic Sea
Region;
49. against the background
of the unique natural environment of the Baltic Sea and the vulnerability
of many habitats, to work on cross-border strategies in order to
minimize existing conflicts between tourism, marine and coastal
protection;
50. strengthen the rural development
and agricultural production in accordance with the environment in
such a way, that the natural landscape and sound environment as
precondition for a sustainable tourism in rural areas are protected and
restored;
51. support transnational strategies
which promote the development of tourism in the Baltic Sea Region
and to include the creation of synergies between projects and a
communication strategy for the Policy Area Tourism;
52. ensure the better inclusion of all
Baltic Sea countries in joint projects and strategies as well as
of the private sector to improve direct economic impact;
53. work towards increased coherence
with regard to approaches to Sustainable Tourism in the region;
54. in order to help mobilize the full
potential of Sustainable Tourism to establish the Baltic Sea Region
as a common and coherent tourism destination;
55. jointly work towards a common understanding
of Sustainable Tourism and to strive to establish joint marketing
and joint labels;
56. support the Baltic Sea Tourism Forum
and its newly-established project for a permanent platform for information
and know-how exchange – the Baltic Sea Tourism Center – as coordinator for
the implementation of activities on Sustainable Tourism in the region;
57. especially support the application
for the 2nd call by the Baltic Sea Tourism Center for financial
support via the EU-INTERREG-Programme South Baltic 2014-2020 to
achieve the establishment of an operational service unit for Sustainable
Tourism cooperation and permanent platform for information and know-how
exchange at transnational level, the so-called “Baltic Sea Tourism
Center”;
58. support the objectives of the Policy
Area Tourism in the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region to facilitate
and strengthen the Baltic Sea Tourism Forum process as well as to
facilitate coordination with stakeholders through joint workshops;
59. facilitate the networking and clustering
of tourism stakeholders;
60. reinvigorate and update existing
but untapped knowledge in the Baltic Sea Region about Sustainable
Tourism, for instance the Agora Strategy for Sustainable Tourism
Development in the Baltic Sea Region;
61. work towards creating longer-term
impacts and benefits, thus increasing public acceptance;
*Parliaments and parliamentary institutions:
Baltic Assembly,
Free Hanseatic City of Bremen,
Denmark,
Estonia,
European Parliament,
Federal Republic of Germany,
Finland,
Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,
Iceland,
Kaliningrad Region,
Latvia,
Lithuania,
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,
Nordic Council,
Norway,
Poland,
City of St. Petersburg,
Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian
Federation,
State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation,
Schleswig-Holstein,
Sweden,
Åland Islands.