The Baltic Sea is a special region in many ways. It is one of the busiest maritime areas in the world, it is also one of the largest brackish water areas in the world and has a very sensitive and unusual combination of freshwater and ocean species, and it is surrounded by nine countries which all work hard on holistic regional collaboration.

Representatives from EUSBSR met with Norwegian maritime actors to show strategic and financial possibilities as well as concrete projects for Norwegian actors that want to become involved in Baltic Sea Region cooperation. The future of shipping, its technologies and competences - were also discussed and presented.

On 8th November 2017, in the Maritime Culture Centre in Gdańsk, Poland, an international seminar entitled “How Can Maritime Business Benefit from the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region?” was held. It was organized as part of “Let’s Communicate!” and “Smart Blue Regions” projects by “Pomorskie in the EU” Association, PA Ship and PA Safe. During the seminar, experts and companies from the maritime industry met to discuss current and potential maritime projects (covering the fields of shipping industry cooperation, logistics, port industry, shipping and occupational safety, biotechnological innovations, etc.)

ChemSAR project is an EUSBSR Flagship aiming to no less than save human lives. Human lives will be saved by improving the efficiency of the rescue operations at sea. The rescue operations will become more effective with the help of standard operational procedures which the project creates, especially to be used in hazardous and noxious substances incidents.

Politicians, public authorities, industry stakeholders and maritime Flagship Projects agree that there is a need to focus on cross-sectorial cooperation, education and training as well as enforcement of regulations in order to turn the Baltic Sea Region into a leading region for clean and safe shipping.

In February 2017, three new Flagship projects were approved by the National Coordinators under Policy Area Safe, Policy Area Secure and Horizontal Action Climate. The actions of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region are implemented by means of Flagships. Flagships demonstrate the progress of the Strategy, and may serve as pilot examples for desired action in a given field.