NOSTRA project outlined at the Baltic Sea co-operation conference (Helsinki, 17-18 October 2013)

Published the 20 December 2024

The 21st Annual Conference of the BSSSC (Baltic Sea States Subregional Co-operation) network was held on 17 and 18 October 2024 in Helsinki, and more than 220 participants attended it. On the invitation of the Helsinki-Uusima Regional Council – the region is called “Uusimaa” and is a member of the European Straits Initiative – Pas-de-Calais County Council put on a presentation on the INTERREG IV C NOSTRA (Network Of STRAits) project, in its capacity as one of the Initiative’s two lead partners.

The BSSSC Annual Conference is one of the most important events as regards cooperation in the Baltic Sea zone. Many issues were on the agenda at the Conference, such as maritime policy, energy and the future European cohesion policy.

The BSSSC organisation was founded in Stavanger, Norway, in 1993. Its participants are regional authorities in the 10 Baltic Sea coastal states – Germany, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Russia.

Its mission is to act as a pan-Baltic organisation open to all regions and to add value to co-operation between its members.

The European Straits Initiative (ESI) – whose NOSTRA project is its first big project – promotes the sharing of good practices between regional authorities involved in the management of straits in Europe, for the benefit of inhabitants and of hinterlands. Pas-de-Calais County Council’s participation in the Conference is part of this dynamic.

Three of the eight member straits of the ESI network are located in the Baltic Sea – Kvarken Strait (Kvarken Council), the Gulf of Finland (Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council and Harju County Council) and the Strait of Fehmarn (Fehmarn Belt Committee).

In its capacity as one of the INTERREG IV C NOSTRA project’s and of one of the ESI’s two lead partners – along with Kent County Council – Pas-de-Calais County Council promotes the cause of the specificities of the strait from which it takes its name (the stretch of sea called Pas de Calais by the French is referred to as the Strait of Dover in English), but also the cause of European straits which have a certain number of strategic issues in common (maritime traffic, pressure on the environment, cross-border maritime governance, and so forth).