Collaboration
Espon
The European Spatial Planning Observation Network (ESPON) has been set up to support policy development and to build a European scientific community in the field of territorial development. The main aim is to increase the general body of knowledge about territorial structures, trends and the impacts of policy in an enlarged European Union. The Öresund Committee is one of the many organisations that are active in the preparations for the forthcoming ESPON 2013 programme, where the emphasis will be on physical planning and territorial cohesion.
Öresund – a motor in the Baltic Sea Region
During 2005 and 2006 a project entitled “The Öresund Region’s Baltic Sea Strategy” developed a strategic platform to position and profile the Öresund Region in the Baltic Sea Region.
The aim was to establish cooperation between various organisations in the region and to develop a joint strategy. During the course of the project, networks were created with interested parties throughout the Baltic Sea Region, including the cities of Hamburg and St Petersburg, as well as with the Baltic Sea Initiative.
The project has four working parties – in logistics, research & development, trade & industry, and tourism & culture. These have jointly formulated the following objectives for the Öresund Region’s Baltic Sea Strategy:
- The Öresund Region will be a hub for knowledge, innovation and creativity
- The Öresund Region will be a trading place
- The Öresund Region will be an attractive region for people and business
STRING
Cooperation in the form of the South Western Baltic Sea Transregional Area Inventing New Geography (STRING) began as an Interreg project back in 1999, but was not formalised until 2006. Then, in Malmö, Sweden, politicians from Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Region Skåne, Region Zealand and the Capital Region of Denmark (Copenhagen) signed a joint declaration on cooperation in the areas of science and research, transport and infrastructure, tourism, regional development and culture.
Association of European Border Regions (AEBR)
Since the mid-1990s the Öresund Committee has been a member of the Association of European Border Regions (AEBR) and has a representative on the AEBR board. AEBR has been an important lobbying organisation for the Interreg programmes in the EU Commission, while also proving to be an excellent network resource in terms of general matters relating to cross-border issues.