Transport and Communications Group

North Sea Commission
Transport & Communications group
Annual report 2002-2003

Summary

Chair: Jan Hallberg Västra Götaland region Sweden, Co-ordinator: Jon Halvard Eide, Vest-Agder Norway, Vice-Chair: Jim Wade, Northamptonshire. The group has held three ordinary meetings since the last General Assembly. In: Schleswig-Holstein, Northamptonshire and Groningen. In addition, the group has organised a thematic meeting on ports and shipping issues in co-operation with the NSC Business development group. The group is also co-operating with the Environment group on sustainable transport (see below).

Current issues & priorities of the group

Influencing EU transport policies
The group has been monitoring key EU policy processes and papers, developing channels to relevant EU institutions, following up on a previous response to the Transport White Paper, and has met with the EU Commission. Furthermore, the group is active in the CPMR Intercom group on transport. Here we are working on an input to CPMR’s proposal for the 2004-revision of the TransEuropean Network (TEN-T). We are also developing an Interreg 3C concept on transport policy consultation on behalf of CPMR, and will assist the CPMR to prepare a conference on sustainable transport in 2004. Furthermore, the Co-ordinator drafted a speech that NSC President Bent Hansen delivered at the CPMR General Assembly in September last year, and a resolution based on the group’s response to the EU Transport White Paper was adopted by the CPMR General Assembly.

Sustainable transport
The group has been following up a conference on sustainable transport held in Aarhus last year. In April, the Chairs of the Environment and Transport groups wrote to all NSC regions encouraging them to implement best practice examples in sustainable transport presented at the Aarhus conference. The letter also invited the NSC regions to participate in a North Sea co-operation project on sustainable transport as an Interreg 3B bid. The main elements of this project will be pilot projects to implement best practice examples from the “Aarhus catalogue”, recurring conferences of the Aarhus-type and development of best practice example tool kits. Västra Götaland region is co-ordinating the development of the project. We hope to submit an application for the September 2003- or the March 2004 application round.

Ports & shipping issues
On 12 – 14 March, the group organised a thematic meeting on ports and shipping issues in co-operation with the NSC Business development group. The meeting identified a number of possible co-operation areas in this field such as mapping of existing projects, joint studies, meetings and seminars. Furthermore, the groups will work to establish a Port and shipping partnership – facilitating contact between all relevant stakeholders. As a reaction to the Prestige accident last year, the group drafted a letter which was sent from the NSC President Bent Hansen on 21 February to all relevant maritime safety authorities in the North Sea countries. The letter requests the governments to provide information on the concrete measures being undertaken to improve Port State Controls in compliance with relevant EU directives and a CPMR declaration. The letter is intended to attract more attention to maritime safety and hopefully commit the Governments to strengthen their efforts in this field. Positive replies have already been received from UK, Denmark, Germany and Norway.

Information & Communication technologies (ICT)
The group has decided to apply a demand-oriented approach in this field - focusing on the application and effects of ICT for regional development, not on the technology it-self.

The work on ICT will mainly be conducted within the framework of the co-operation with the NSC Business Development group (BDG). The two groups are planning a joint seminar on ICT in Vlaanderen 10 September. The NSC Education and Research group will also be invited to the seminar. The seminar intends to work out a good knowledge base and explore ideas for future Interreg projects within ICT. The issues of E-government, regional innovation and ICT & mobility will constitute the thematical framework for the seminar.