More than 80 stakeholders assembled for NSPA Forum in Kuopio
NSPA Forum in Kuopio on the 22 September assembled more than 80 stakeholders to discuss the next EU funding period and the opportunities of the Northern Sparsely Populated Areas.
NSPA Forum in Kuopio on the 22 September assembled more than 80 stakeholders to discuss the next EU funding period and the opportunities of the Northern Sparsely Populated Areas.
Mr. Jussi Huttunen, Region Mayor Pohjois-Savo region, opened the forum by giving a brief introduction to the East Finland region, followed by Mr. Kari Aalto, Director of North Finland EU Office, who presented the NSPA network and upcoming actions within the NSPA cooperation, highlighting the importance of recurring NSPA Forums and the dialogue between all regional and local actors in the NSPA.
Keynote speaker Mr. Alain Roggeri, Head of Unit Regio H.2 (Estonia, Finland, Latvia), gave a presentation on the future of regional policy in the EU. Mr. Roggeri pointed out that continuous efforts have raised awareness of the NSPA regions and that the location of the NSPA marks the importance of territorial cooperation.
-"Special allocation will be provided for the NSPA", Mr. Roggeri said.
Mr. Roggeri encouraged the NSPA regions to shape a regional development strategy for the NSPA.
-"Your regions have apparent common challenges, which makes it even more essential to join efforts and resources, making the output larger", Mr. Roggeri said.
Mr. Jussi Yli-Lathi, Director of Regional Development, Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy, contributed to the forum by giving his thoughts on the NSPA regions.
-"The fact that NSPA regions are located overseas in the sense that there is no road or railway connection apart from via Denmark to Sweden makes it logical for the European Commission to propose the same treatment as for the outermost regions", Mr. Yli-Lahti said.
One session of the forum was dedicated to defining different challenges and opportunities of the NSPA regions. Mr. Kimmo Pietikäinen, Division Manager Bedrock Resources, Finnish Geological Survey, gave his perspective on natural resources and Ms. Susan Holmberg, PhD Political Science Mid Sweden University talked about research and development connected to regional development. Mr. Kimmo Niiranen, Regional Officer, Regional Council of North Karelia presented aspects of demographic change and social innovation in the NSPA and Mr. Rune Bakkevoll, Special Advisor North Norway European Office, gave an insight on cross-border cooperation and the NSPA.
Ms. Riikka Manner, MEP, Member of the Regional Development Committee, presented the European Parliament's views on the future of regional policy in the EU and invited the NSPA to give comments about the upcoming legislative packages on future cohesion policy.
-"The European Parliament has from the beginning had quite a united opinion on a future strong cohesion policy for all regions in the future", Ms. Manner said.
Åsa Möller, Chair of County Council of Västernorrland, invited all actors to the Mid Sweden region for the next NSPA Forum and some concluding remarks were given by Ms. Riitta Koskinen, Director Regional Development Regional Council of Etelä-Savo.
The Forum adopted a position paper on the Budget Europe 2020:
Contributions to Budget for Europe 2020 (pdf)
See speakers' presentations here: