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Council of Oulu Region joined the Living-in.EU initiative in an event organised during the European Week of Regions and Cities, #EWRC this week in Brussels. Living-in.EU 's goal is to promote sustainable digital change and give boost to digital transformation in EU regions and cities. Signing the commitment enables the Council of Oulu Region to participate in Living-in.eu's working groups. The Living-in.EU initiative was initiated in Oulu in 2019. Behind the initiative is the Eurocities cooperation network of the most significant European cities. The network was founded in 1986 and includes more than 200 cities. #EURegionsWeek [caption id="attachment_45643" align="alignnone" width="300"] Council of Oulu Region joined the Living-in.EU initiative during the European Week of Regions and Cities, #EWRC. The commitment was signed by Regional Mayor Jussi Rämet.[/caption]

Region Norrbotten visited Council of Oulu Region on Monday and Tuesday. We hade joint meeting on current matters in Region Norrbotten and Oulu Region. We discussed especially about logistical cross-border connections, cohesion policy and industrial policy of the European Union. Starting international daily train traffic between Oulu and Haaparanta The electrification of the Laurila-Tornio-Haaparanta line will be completed at the turn of 2024–2025. The Council of Oulu region has proposed to the Finnish government that the 2025 budget should include funding to start international daily train traffic between Oulu and Haaparanta.  2.1 million euro should be allocated to the state budget to the purchase service contract of the Ministry of Transport and Communications from 2025. Opening passenger traffic across the border would enable the development of tourism, and the rail connection would also serve the Bothnian arc working area. European Capital of Culture year 2026 in Oulu and in the region would also greatly benefit for better train connection to Sweden. Northern Sparsely Populated Areas and cohesion policy The most important goal in EU cohesion policy is to preserve the special role for Northern Sparsely Populated Areas. In addition to the importance of traditional cohesion policy, new funding and implementation needs can also be identified in cohesion policy. The problem with fully utilizing the Recovery and Resilience Fund, RRF, is that it has been done at the expense of regions. RRF is centrally managed, and state led. Instead of national implementation, development should continue to be regional. Cohesion policy supports the EU's single market. The EU's internal market is a common market of 450 million consumers, where goods move freely. This represents 60% of Finland's exports go to the internal market area. The EU must also consider the situation of the EU's eastern border. The loss of cross-border funding should…

The Maritime Working Group of the Baltic Sea Commission of CPMR, the cooperation organization for the European peripheral maritime regions, met on June 3-4 in Oulu. The topic of the meeting was the role of ports in the Baltic Sea. At the event, a review of the security situation in the Baltic Sea was heard by the former intelligence chief of the Defense Forces, MP Pekka Toveri, as well as presentations from the ports of Oulu and Stockholm and the Raahe Region Development. In the new TEN-T regulation, the port of Oulu has been promoted from the comprehensive network to core network. "Ports have been an important topic on the Maritime Working Group's agenda during this EU mandate period, and due to the security policy situation in the Baltic Sea, their importance will be even more emphasized in the future. It is also important to secure a sufficient level of CEF funding to support port investments. The participation of our key partner regions in the meeting of the maritime working group in Oulu was particularly valuable," states Sari Nurro, chairman of the maritime working group and member of the provincial board of North Ostrobothnia. On Tuesday, June 4th, the Working Group visited the port of Raahe, where the role of the port at the center of the energy transition and wind power transport in Oulu Region was presented. The port of Raahe has grown to become one of Finland's busiest ports thanks to wind power transports. "The visit to the port of Raahe was an interesting experience for the representatives of the partner regions to see the operation of a versatile energy and circular economy port in practice," continues Nurro.

The Council of Oulu Region is involved in a large project submitted to the EU's Horizon Europe program, the purpose of which is to develop the hydrogen economy on the west coast of Finland and create a functioning ecosystem for it. Energy production and consumption are in a transition phase when moving from combustion-based energy to emission-free energy. The need for clean electricity is growing all over Europe. A significant part of renewable energy investments has been realized and is planned in the BotH2nia hydrogen valley area. In this way, energy-using industry can also be created and attracted to the area. The total budget of the BotH₂nia Hydrogen Valley project is 20 million euros and it involves 65 partners and an even larger group of other participants. Company partners from our region include Oulun Energia, Raahen Energia and SSAB. The University of Oulu is responsible for the project's research and technology work package. The Council of Oulu Region plays a key role in cooperation between regions. Our responsibility is to create a strategic inter-regional hydrogen economy roadmap to serve the development of the whole region and forecasting and evaluating the effects of the hydrogen economy from an economic, social and environmental point of view. The project is for five years and if it receives funding, the project will start in 2025. The presentation of BotH₂nia Hydrogen Valley can be found here https://www.both2nia.com/en/news/both2nia-hydrogen-valley-nutshell

Towards a carbon neutral Northern Ostrobothnia Northern Ostrobothnia is contributing to reaching Finland’s 2035 carbon neutrality target inline with the EU targets. Northern Ostrobothnia Climate Roadmap lines seven themes and 130 measures from different sectors.