Östersjön är en förebild

En hel dag ägnade BSPC-parlamentariker i går åt hur utvecklingen av Östersjön till ett blomstrande hav ska skötas. Det sades mycket klokt till vilket jag återkommer i morgon. Själv höll jag ett inlägg som följde på Hanna Hagmark-Coopers utmärkta föreläsning om vikten av att använda historien som en språngbräda mot framtiden. Så här löd mina ord:

Chairman and friends in the Baltic Sea-region,

Water is full of opportunities and history is the very platform upon which we build the future. Dr Hanna Hagmark-Cooper and the other experts we have listened to demonstrated in their presentations clearly and powerful what we all can gain from understanding the past in defining the time yet to come.

Some of us yesterday discovered in the beatiful town of Ryn how the Teutonic knights chose to built their impressive castles in between two lakes which provided them with the power of the water through clever innovations as mills that provided food and other necessities and the early start of what we today call the industrialisation. It started with visions, turned out to ideas and moved on to iPads and highways and a more democratic world.

International shipping has done the same thing but in a very short timespan. During the last say onehundred years the shipping industry has developed from being driven by wind, through steam, via fossile fuel like coal and oil to Liquid Natural Gas. Presently and ironically part of the shipping industry today consider to go back to sail and wind.

With guidance from the past the shipping industry has used the power of the water to develop a better world, just like the anxient knights. The cultural heritage is a more transparent world and the possibility to distribute your ideas, your music, your movies and your words in a way never seen before. Innovations and development creates opportunities for intellectual growth and freedom to express your views. Trade is not what it used to be and we need to adjust to the new reality which is easier if we understand the past. An example. A few years ago a wreck carrying the oldest preserved champagne in the world was found in the archipelago of the Åland Island. The precious cargo was meant for the Russian empire but did never reach their buyers. Thanks to that we today have a great story and opportunity to explain and understand our common history and international business. This illustrates very clearly that yesterdays disasters is todays storytelling.

The Baltic Sea will next year become a role model for the rest of the world when the sulphur directive becomes a reality. This is an important step towards a better and more environmental future and a reason to highlight the history in order to find the way to the future. Maritime history in the Baltic Sea has been the strong rope that tied our common civilisations together. It started at the time for the teutonic knights and beyond, developed over hundreds of years and has now evaluated into an opportunity to create a clean, prosperous and peaceful Baltic Sea. When we encourage growth and green energy we do not only save our beloved Baltic Sea, we also become an inspiration for the rest of the world at the same time as we honour our cultural heritage. The Baltic Sea is not a small sea among large oceans. We are the Baltic Example and the place were the work towards a sustainable, intelligent and culturally enlighted world starts. For doing that the generations to come one day will say: thank heaven that the BSPC in the ancient times of 2014 realised the need to honour the history in order to form the future and convinced the concerned parliaments that history matters.
Ålänningar på plats i Olsztyn håller den åländska flaggan och det lokala tänkesättet högt. Från vänster Hanna Hagmark-Cooper som föreläste om historiens kraft i framtidsbygget, delegationssekreterare Niclas Slotte och från lagtinget Kalle Fogelström, Danne Sundman, Jörgen Pettersson och Annette Holmberg-Jansson.
Åland är en liten spelare som många väljer att lyssna på. I den stora konferenssalen fick vi platserna längst fram! 
Så här kan det se ut när det gäller att lyfta fram sjöfarten som en sammanhållande kraft i Östersjön.
Den åländska flaggan är lika viktig som de mycket större staterna på plats. Här är det inte storleken som är det viktigaste utan kraften i idéerna.

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