ND Newsflash No. 3/2015 (Nov)
NDPC building common understanding on CCI
Baltic Sea Region has never before been so vivid and strong in terms of cultural cooperation. Northern Dimension Partnership on Culture plays an important role in this collaboration, providing support for CCI sectors in the region. I am privileged that I could serve as the NDPC Chairman on behalf of Poland since January 2014.
Northern Dimension Partnership on Culture – a regional platform established in 2010 with the aim to support development of cultural and creative industries (CCI) in the Northern Dimension area – acts on two levels: political and practical.
POLARCODE increases safety in Polar waters
Maritime transport and economic activity is expected to increase in the Arctic. Arctic sea and water areas are environmentally extremely sensitive. To prevent environmental risks, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has issued a Polar Code, which is to enter in force on January 1, 2017. The code is an international binding norm addressed to vessels sailing in Northern Arctic waters and waters surrounding the Antarctica. The code presumes more rigorous safety and environmental regulations for vessels sailing in waters surrounding the two poles.
Health and economic development are tightly interlinked
The health and social well-being of the populations of the Baltic Sea region have significant effects on the economy and related progress. The main impacts include a direct effect on the fiscal positions of the governments of the region and indirect effects through education, labor markets, and social stability. Investments in public health, including actions to limit tobacco consumption, reduce non-communicable diseases, and improve mental health, have high returns in the countries of the Baltic Sea region.
These conclusions have been drawn in the new report “The Importance of Health and Social well-being for the Economy and Other Policy Areas” that was commissioned and published by the Northern Dimension Partnership in Public Health and Social Well-being (NDPHS) Secretariat.
NDPHS Strategy 2020: Promoting sustainable development in the Northern Dimension area through improving human health and social well-being
Our Northern Dimension area is facing several pressing health challenges, among them the spread of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and associated infections; the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance; the impact of non-communicable lifestyle-related diseases; social and health harm from alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use; chronic health conditions and demographic change.
With its new Strategy 2020, the NDPHS has committed itself to help address these challenges by providing a forum for concerted action, cooperation, joint capacity-building and coordination of activities within the Northern Dimension area. An Action Plan accompanying the Strategy is just about to be adopted. It is laying out concrete actions, targets and indicators aimed to facilitate the NDPHS efforts.
Finding joint solutions to transboundary challenges in the Northern Dimension
The Northern Dimension (ND) is nowadays one of the most effective forward-looking formats of regional and trans-border cooperation. The results and achievements of the ND, i.e. better environmental situation in the Baltic and Barents seas, new cultural ties and promotion of cultural industries, improvements in public health protection in the ND area and resolved transport problems, are also well known due to active position of the NDI and its Newsflash, which deserve all the support.
Financing mechanisms in the Barents Region
The Barents Euro-Arctic Council (BEAC) set up an Ad Hoc Working Group to assess the financial needs, existing financial sources and financing gaps in the Barents region. Report on the results of the assessment was recently published.
