On the 14th Annual Forum for the EUSBSR, Policy Areas Nutri, Hazards, Ship and Bioeconomy joined forces with the CBSS and the Swedish Institute to discuss how to help Ukraine on their road towards a full EU-partnership and sustainable rebuilding. 

The workshop aimed at exploring needs for future cooperation between the Baltic Sea region and Ukraine, focusing on how to empower sustainable rebuilding. The workshop was opened by Johan Magnusson from EU DG REGIO with messages from the EU about how the support for Ukraine will continue and deepen in the future. This important message was followed by a discussion between Nadija Afanasieva (Ukrainian Institute of International Politics), Camilla Wristel (Swedish Institute) and Lotta Ruokanen(HELCOM) moderated by Torfi Johannesson.

The panel discussion was followed by roundtable discussions. There were four different roundtables, each hosted by Policy Area coordinators (Nutri, Hazards, Ship, Bioeconomy) and joined by a Ukrainian expert, an expert from the Baltic Sea Region and a youth participant. The audience joined in the roundtable discussions. Main results of the discussions were collected by the youth participants and coordinators.

Some key results:

• Needed communities for cooperation: self-governments, communities, universities, youth
• Fields for cooperation: knowledge sharing, education, practical lessons learnt in the Baltic Sea Region
• The cooperation must address the current and future challenges in Ukraine and exact data on issues and then offer tailored support to the identified needs. In some cases, exchange and support on how to monitor and obtain data can be part of the collaboration
• Networks of cities can act as first aid in getting the know-how to Ukraine: EURO-CITIES and twin cities are an already existing network and can help in finding needs and setting up monitoring systems
• Fostering an open dialogue between Ukraine and the Baltic Sea region to exchange innovations and lessons learned. It is also useful to acknowledge that there are currently many EU and regional funding instruments with possibilities for supporting Ukraine (for example SI Baltic Sea Neighbourhood programme, which will have a call open 15 November 2023 and close 15 February 2024).

A blog post about the workshop, written by Elsi Kauppinen, Policy Area Nutri Cooridinator is available on the EUSBSR hompage.