The motivation for establishing a working committee for culture and education is the green transition and new industrialization currently taking place on both sides of the Kvarken. Culture has increasingly become an important factor in the effort to secure competence and improve the region’s attractiveness. Cooperation in the Kvarken region can open doors for new investments and projects that can benefit the ongoing transition work.
– Västernorrland has a good history of collaboration with Ostrobothnia in cultural and educational matters. Since several cultural project initiatives are currently relevant, the establishment of a working committee is in line with the Kvarken Council’s Cross-Border Development Strategy 2030, says Mr Jonny Lundin, Regional Councillor of Västernorrland and Chairman of the working committee for culture and education.
One of the focus areas in the Kvarken Council’s Cross-Border Development Strategy 2030 is “Interaction Between Residents”. This focus area consists of the following keywords: cultural and popular cooperation, culture as a regional development force, work and activities of an association, and civil society.
The Kvarken Council EGTC currently has 37 members, and the working committee’s aim is to strengthen cooperation among these members on cultural and educational issues. A workshop will be organized in Umeå, Sweden, on 28–29 August 2024 with the aim of gathering around 40 cultural stakeholders from the Kvarken region. The workshop is organized as part of the ongoing Interreg Aurora feasibility study Cultural Platform Kvarken.
– The working committees carry out concrete activities and initiatives that contribute to regional development. Their work ensures that collaboration continues even when there are no active projects bringing the stakeholders together. Establishing working committees is a concrete example of how we implement our organization form, the EGTC, says Ms Veronica Berg, the Kvarken Council’s Development Manager.
The working committee for culture and education consists of the following representatives from the Kvarken Council’s Board: Regional Councillor of Västernorrland Mr Jonny Lundin (Chairman), Mayor of Kurikka Ms Anna-Kaisa Pusa (Vice Chairman) and Mr Mattias Larsson and Ms Lilly Bäcklund from Region Västerbotten. The working committee for education and culture is the third working committee within the Kvarken Council EGTC; the previous two include the working committee for energy and the working committee for traffic and infrastructure.
Regional Councillor of Västernorrland Jonny Lundin is the Chairman of the working committee for culture and education, and Mayor of Kurikka Anna-Kaisa Pusa is the group’s Vice Chairman.
Read more about the feasibility study Cultural Platform Kvarken HERE.
Read more about the Kvarken Council’s Cross-Border Development Strategy 2030 HERE.
Read more about the working committee for energy HERE.
Read more about the working committee for traffic and infrastructure HERE.
The Kvarken Council EGTC is a Nordic cross-border cooperation platform for three Ostrobothnian counties in Finland and the regions of Västerbotten and Västernorrland in Sweden. Together they form the Kvarken region. We are the most democratic multi-level governance structure in the Nordic countries and the first fully Nordic EGTC area. We promote all types of cross-border cooperation with the ambition to develop our region to become as good as possible for future generations. The Kvarken Council is one the Nordic Council of Ministers’ official cross-border cooperation bodies.