New environmental protection strategies, renewable energy, cooperation and the security of countries around the Baltic Sea - these are some of the topics that the Senate Climate and Environment and Foreign Affairs Committees will be working on at a joint meeting in Gdynia this September. The event is co-organised by the University of Gdańsk and the Gdynia Maritime University.

On July 23, UG Rector prof. dr hab. Piotr Stepnowski and GMU Deputy Rector for Education dr hab. Sambor Guze, prof. GMU paid an official visit to the Upper House of the Polish Parliament. He met with Polish Senate Speaker Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska , Senator Sławomir Rybicki, Chairman of the Climate and Environment Committee Senator Stanisław Gawłowski, and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Senator Grzegorz Schetyna. The main topic of the meetings was the organisation of a joint session of the above-mentioned Senate committees in Gdynia in September this year. The subject of the meeting will be Baltic Sea issues from the point of view of new environmental protection strategies, renewable energy, international cooperation of countries in the Baltic Sea basin, and security and defence in the context of NATO enlargement to include more countries bordering the Baltic Sea.

‘The University of Gdańsk is a workplace of a number of eminent specialists on a wide range of Baltic topics: oceanographers, logisticians and maritime transport specialists, experts on security and cross-border policy, specialists in maritime law, and many others. I would like our university to become a strategic think tank, a substantive resource for the Polish state in these areas. As never before, the role of our country in this region can become crucial in a great many strategic areas, and our university can help in this significantly,’ said UG Rector prof. Piotr Stepnowski.

During the meetings in the Senate, the conviction was expressed that this is an excellent opportunity to prepare our country for the Presidency of the EU in terms of cooperation between the Baltic countries. Senators after the September meeting, at the invitation of the UG Rector, will also have the opportunity to go on a short training cruise aboard the UG research vessel Oceanograf.