Head of Section “Baltic Sea Policy
and Cooperation“
Ministry of Science, Culture,
Federal and European Affairs
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Germany
Almost one year ago, on 16th January 2024, the regional government of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern adopted its strategy for cooperation with the democratic Baltic Sea region countries. Thus, the North German state, often called MV for the sake of simplicity, reacted to the fundamentally changed geopolitical situation in the area. With security and energy issues being high on the agenda, long term challenges still require continuous efforts, like climate change, demographic change, digitalization and artificial intelligence, just to mention the most prominent ones.
During the elaboration process, the regional government was supported by the MV Cooperation Council for the democratic Baltic Sea region which was established in June 2022 for this purpose. The council, composed of 29 personalities from different fields of expertise like politics, business, science, education and culture, and volunteering, submitted its recommendations in May 2023. Upon this basis, the regional government elaborated the final strategy, coordinated by the Ministry of Science, Culture, Federal and European Affairs MV. The state government's overarching political goal is to work with its partners to develop the Baltic Sea region into a peaceful, sustainable and innovative model region in Europe.
The MV Baltic Sea Strategy focuses on political priorities for which joint solutions shall be accelerated.
Three objectives, underpinned by 19 measures are prioritized:
- Strengthen the readiness for cooperation by improving the framework conditions for cooperation, e.g. by bundling cooperation-related resources and information more effectively, by attracting more regional actors for cooperation, and by strengthening intercultural skills in the fields of education, culture, youth and in the wider civil society.
- Protection of the Baltic Sea and preservation of a healthy and livable environment, e.g. by tackling the complex and long-term challenge of dumped ammunition, by developing a bioeconomy strategy as a key for the sustainable use of resources, and by better involving the public in Baltic Sea related reseach and programmes.
- Securing future viability and prosperity by better exploiting the regional growth potential through cooperation, mainly in the fields of renewable energies with MV as the natural starting and landing point in Germany for energy partnerships in the Baltic Sea region or the development of hydrogen related value chains. Further prioritized areas of cooperation are the promotion of foreign trade through the biannual Baltic Sea Business Day in Rostock as the flagship event in MV, the health care sector, digitalization, maritime spatial planning and the promotion of international student mobility.
Even though implementing the strategy is a process under the political guidance of the state government, it aims to build on the broad commitment of all societal actors in MV. It relies on numerous and long-standing cooperation formats in the Baltic Sea region, e.g. city twinning and regional partnerships, networks and projects in the fields of science, business, culture and art. New formats and projects will be developed where need be, e.g. in the field of innovative energy technologies.
In the first year since the adoption of the strategy, the implementation process has been focused on setting up a communication framework and the coordination mechanisms for the MV Baltic Sea Strategy. The official kick-off event took place on 15th May 2024 in Rostock, where the strategy was presented and discussed with about 200 stakeholders from MV and guests from the Baltic Sea region.
More than 170 regional actors – both experienced and newcomers – have signaled their interest to get involved in cooperation activities. For this purpose, and in the light of the new MV Baltic Sea Strategy, the “Forum Ostsee MV”, which has been the regional format of stakeholder involvement in Baltic Sea issues since 2014, will be relaunched in January 2025. In a preparatory workshop, members of the forum have stated that, next to using synergies with other stakeholders in MV, they would also like to use the forum as a tool to better connect with potential partners in the Baltic Sea region, independent from specific funding instruments or specific sectors.
In the years to come, the development of AI-based tools for the purpose of interregional cooperation might hopefully offer a new quality of support services for cooperation.
Since its establishment in 1990, the state government of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and many actors across different levels and sectors have actively sought to establish and to develop ties to partners from the Baltic Sea region. The promotion of Baltic Sea cooperation is even anchored as a state goal in the constitution of MV. With its own regional Baltic Sea strategy, MV has positioned itself even more visibly as an active and attractive partner for a cooperation based on common values and rules.
If you want to know more about the MV Baltic Sea Strategy and are interested to learn more about the region, please reach out to us.
Further information and contact:
https://www.mv-balticseastrategy.de
https://www.europa-mv.de/ostseekooperation/mv-ostseestrategie/ (in German)