On December 10, the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management held the last meeting with neighbouring countries on the agency’s proposals for maritime spatial plans, in the first planning cycle. At the meeting, the participants communicated about the final plan proposals.
On site in Göteborg were representatives from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Norway, Poland and Åland, with Russia participating online. The purpose of the meeting was to communicate about the final plan proposals, but also about the strategic environmental assessment and sustainability appraisal.
– A lot of questions and discussions came up during the meeting. Some of questions relate to the countries’ different planning systems, something that has recurred throughout the process. We all are in the same process and our neighbours are interested in our planning work. These meetings provide a lot for us at SwAM of course, but also for our common understanding of MSP, says Eva Rosenhall, acting head of marine spatial planning at SwAM.
SwAM’s dialogue with the neighbouring countries started in 2013 and after that there have been several meetings. On 17 December 2019, the Swedish plan proposals are submitted to the government.
– This meeting ended the international dialogue for this period. We have had a good collaboration for several years. We have had the opportunity to get to know our maritime spatial planning colleagues in the neighbouring countries around the Baltic Sea. So, these meetings have been important for our work. The maritime spatial plans of neighbouring countries need to be linked, says Eva Rosenhall.
