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Preparations begin on Maritime Policy Action Plan

Prime Minister's Office
Publication date 20.2.2020 13.19
News item 4/2020

The Prime Minister’s Office has appointed an interministerial steering group on maritime policy to prepare a Maritime Policy Action Plan. The group’s task is to develop maritime policy into a clear area of strength in line with Finland’s marine and maritime policy guidelines. The action plan is set to be completed in the first half of 2021.

The steering group is chaired by Mikko Koskinen, State Secretary to the Prime Minister. The group includes representatives from all key administrative branches, who each bring their own viewpoint to the programme. The preparation of the action plan is being supported by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.

The guidelines for Finland’s marine and maritime policy published in 2019 set out a vision for the new action plan. According to the vision for marine and maritime policy, Finland has a global influence and produces solutions ensuring that the use of marine natural resources is sustainable, the status of the marine environment is good, and the impacts of climate change do not exceed the carrying capacity of the oceans. Finland also has high-quality marine competence, an innovative and consistently successful marine cluster, and well-functioning and safe logistics that are environmentally responsible.

The main stakeholders in Finland’s maritime policy will be widely consulted in the preparation of the action plan. A launch event was scheduled to take place at the Marina Congress Center in Helsinki on Thursday 2 April 2020, but it will now be postponed due to the coronavirus situation affecting Finland. The new date for the event will be announced to maritime policy stakeholders as soon as possible.

The event will also mark the launch of the Finnish Maritime Information Portal (Itämeri.fi), which compiles marine data and materials from all administrative sectors and makes them openly available for use. The project is being carried out in cooperation with nine institutions that produce marine data: the Finnish Environment Institute, the Geological Survey of Finland, the Finnish Meteorological Institute, Natural Resources Institute Finland, Metsähallitus, the Finnish Heritage Agency, the Brahea Centre at the University of Turku, the Coordination Group for Marine Spatial Planning Cooperation and the Government of Åland. The Maritime Data Portal responds in concrete terms to the objectives of Finland's marine and maritime policy concerning the availability, quality and shared use of marine data by creating preconditions for the utilisation of the data. The Itämeri.fi portal has also been implemented with the support of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.

Inquiries: Jussi Soramäki, Ministerial Adviser, tel. +358 295 160 330, [email protected] and Heikki Kontro, Project Coordinator, tel. +358 295 160 977, [email protected], Prime Minister’s Office

Inquiries about the Finnish Maritime Data Portal: Paula Kankaanpää, Director of the Marine Research Centre, [email protected] and Hanna Piepponen, Project Coordinator, [email protected], Finnish Environment Institute