Presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States

Estonia holds the presidency of the Baltic Sea States’ Council from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025, and during this period focuses on increasing security and ensuring sustainability in the Baltic Sea region, as well as involving Ukraine in the activities of the region.

Estonian Rescue Board participates in Baltic Sea cooperation through the Civil Protection Network and has been actively contributing to the cooperation of the network for many years, both at the expert level and in high-level formats. The network gives partner institutions the opportunity to share up-to-date information, create new and maintain existing contacts, and initiate projects and seminars of mutual interest. The work of the network is managed by the country holding the presidency and supported by the secretariat of the Council of the Baltic Sea States.

In addition to Estonia, the Baltic Sea Council includes Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Denmark, Sweden and EU.

Considering the changed security situation in Europe, Estonian Rescue Board, as a civil protection authority, has put issues related to increasing the crisis awareness of the population, early warning systems, sheltering and mass evacuation into the focus of the presidency. A common theme for all priorities is the involvement of volunteers.

In addition, during Estonian presidency, the focus is on practical cooperation, exchange of best practices and learning from failures. That is why we organize several seminars and workshops aimed at experts during our presidency. In total, Estonian Rescue Board has planned to organize more than 15 online and contact meetings during the year of its presidency.

Information: CBSS web-page.