Travelling Project Balticness arrives in Berlin [18 Apr 2008]

The travelling project Balticness, organised by the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS), will be visiting Berlin on 22 April. The project includes a jazz concert and discussions on a theme relating to regional co-operation. 

Under the project, a round table discussion "Deepening our Co-operation towards a fully-fledged Maritime Economy in the Baltic Sea Region" will take place at 9.30 on 22 April at  Humboldt University.
The discussion will be opened by the Ambassador of Latvia to Germany, Dr. Martins Virsis. It will be attended by the Director of the Department for Northern European Studies and the Baltic Sea School at Humboldt University, Professor Dr. Bernd Henningsen, Associate Professor of the Faculty of Biology, University of Latvia, Andris Andrusaitis, Head of Policy Staff Baltic and North Sea Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Employment and European Affairs of the Federal Land of Schleswig-Holstein,  Stefan Musiolik, Port of Hamburg Marketing, Dr. Jurgen Sorgenfrei,  also Nicklas Amelin from the Baltic and North Sea Unit, EC Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Department (MARE), and the Director of the Institute of Marketing, Transport and Tourism of the University of Rostock,  Professor Dr. Karl-Heinz Breitzmann.

The following matters will be discussed at the seminar: what are the specifics of the region, does EU policy provide answers to these specific challenges of the region, how should cross-sectoral co-operation be done and by whom, and how to develop a regional co-operative approach in order to foster implementation of integrated policy.

On 22 April at 22.00 a concert by Latvian and German jazz musicians will take place at the jazz club "Quasimodo". Latvia will be represented at the concert by Deniss Paskevics and the group  Riga Groove Electro, but Germany -  by the trumpeter and pianist Sebastian Studnitzky, who is better known as a member of the group Triband.

The concert will be complemented by a video screening about the interaction of the Baltic Sea and its people.

The Project Balticness is a year-long series of events taking place in all the major cities of the CBSS states (Tallinn, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Stockholm, Oslo, Reykjavik, Copenhagen, Berlin, Warsaw, Vilnius, and Riga). The main aim of the project is to foster development of a sense of identity and affiliation in the region, promoting more comprehensive co-operation and closer integration among the countries of the Baltic Sea region, and highlighting the Baltic Sea as the living artery of the entire region and its population.

The project is being implemented by the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in co-operation with Latvian Embassies in CBSS member states, local governments, the CBSS Secretariat in Stockholm, the Centre of Contemporary Art, Association of Musicians Ze Pirats, and the Baltic Development Forum.

Representatives of the press and other interested persons are invited to attend the events. 

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