PA Secure gathered for its 20th meeting back-to-back with the EUSBSR Annual Forum in Riga – on 3 October 2023. Generously hosted by the City of Riga, the meeting took place in the historical City Council building. The Steering Group members from seven BSR countries, Finnish SPEK and UBC Safe Cities Commission were welcomed by the Finnish Presidency and the CBSS DG Ambassador Poznanski. In addition to the usual items on the agenda, such as the Member States updates on the latest projects and activities, the meeting concentrated on a new way of coordination work, suggested by the Policy Area Coordinators: CBSS and MSB. The suggestion was to let the “Trio” (previous, present and upcoming presidency countries) to coordinate all the priorities in the Joint Position on Enhancing the Cooperation in Civil Protection Area – BSR cooperation main guiding document. The members decided to test this method of work and evaluate it in the next meeting. Two guest speakers contributed to the meeting’s agenda: lecture on risk perception in Latvian society was given by Žaneta Ozoliņa, Professor of International Relations in the Department of Political Science, University of Latvia, a primer on Finnish Comprehensive security system – by Mika Lehestö, Ministry of Interior, Finland.
Minutes of the meeting:
