Norrbotten

Norrbotten - the northern most region in Sweden – is chairing the Barents Regional Council since October 2011. In his speech to the Regional Council in October, Governor Per-Ola Eriksson among other things stressed the importance of investing in the Barents young generation and close cooperation on climate related and environmental issues.

– We need to increase young participation in the Barents Cooperation and to cooperate on creating a sustainable and environmentally efficient management of our natural resources in order to be able to compete internationally. The Youth Work Shop in June and the Green Growth Forum in September are steps in this direction. We welcome participants from all the 13 member regions to these events, says Per-Ola Eriksson to BarentSaga.

Norrbotten is now planning for two major events in line with these priorities; a Youth Workshop and a Green Growth Forum.

The Work Shop for young Barents residents will take place in Haparanda, June 13-14, parallel to the annual event Barents Reunion and the next meetings of the Barents Regional Council.

– We hope to reach out to young people who are engaged in the development of the Barents Region and who feel they want to meet others with the ambition to have an impact on the future, says Sari Roininen at the Administrative Board of Norrbotten, who devotes all her time to the Norrbotten Chairmanship.

Sari Roinen points out that one of reasons why this is so important at this particular moment is that we want young peoples’ opinions to be clearly reflected in the Kirkenes II Declaration that is being drafted this year. The Declaration will be signed by the Prime Ministers of the member states in June 3-4, 2013, when they meet in Kirkenes to mark the 20th Anniversary of the Barents Cooperation.

The other event, the Green Growth Forum is planned for September 7, in Luleå. The back ground is that there is an urgent need to create the best conditions possible for turning the challenges of climate change and other environmental issues into opportunities for solutions.

– The Barents Region is rich in many ways, not only in natural resources, but also in human capital and fore front technology. We want to bring together entrepreneurs, researchers and investors to exchange ideas and seek partners for collaboration, says Mattias Lindgren, Environmental Adviser at the Administrative Board of Norrbotten and Chair of the Barents Regional Working Group on Environment.

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Mattias Lindgren, Environmental Adviser at County Administrative
Board of Norrbotten, reported on the Barents Regional Working
Group on Environment to the Ministers of Environment meeting
in Umeå,. (November 2011).

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