Text: Tarmo Ots, Policy Area Transport Coordinator

 

Cross-sectoral cooperation benefits the Baltic Sea Region

Promotion of ongoing projects, efficient dissemination of project findings or conclusions, and defining specific target groups benefiting from outcomes of projects’ work are priorities for all Policy Area Coordinators within the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR). From the perspective of the Policy Area Transport, the latest positive highlight is the recently started cooperation between partners of the BaltSustBoating 2030 project and the Estonian Ministry of Climate in the field of creating sustainable boating in Estonian waters. 

Recreational crafting is considered a tourism or hobby activity. Therefore, it does not thematically fall into the Policy Area Transport areas of responsibility. However, the Estonian Ministry of Climate, which coordinates the Policy Area Transport, is responsible for creating the national policy concerning recreational crafting and marinas for pleasure boating in Estonian waters. The drafting process has just started and the Ministry is in the process of collecting input from different sources. 

 

 

Liisi Lees from the University of Tartu discussing the BaltSusBoating 2030 project with Tarmo Ots, Policy Area Transport Coordinator.

 

Projects, make your work seen!

BaltSusBoating 2030 is a project which initiates strategic cooperation at the Baltic Sea Region level for developing the Baltic Sea into a single, sustainable boating destination, and jointly promoting it in international markets. The project is financed by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme.

The biggest challenge for Estonian marinas is to define a sustainable management model and its implementation. Policy Area Transport coordinators recognised that BaltSusBoating 2023 could support solving this challenge. Cooperation is also useful to project partners as they now can share their knowledge and ideas with policymakers at the ministerial level. Based on preliminary meetings with the project partners, the Estonian Ministry of Climate invited a representative of the project to introduce their work to the marina owners in Estonia. The Ministry hopes the BaltSusBoating 2030 or its successors help to find the most suitable business model for this region.  

The lesson learnt? Projects are encouraged to be active and make themselves as visible as possible to achieve their full potential. BaltSusBoating 2030 was represented with a stand at the EUSBSR Annual Forum in Riga and was noticed there by the Policy Area Transport coordinators.