The Three Seas Initiative’s (3SI) Summit and Business forum in Riga is just two weeks away and discussions on the progress of cross-border cooperation within the Three Seas region are evolving. On 6 and 7 June 2022 the “Three Seas Local Government Congress” was organized in Lublina under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda, during which vital issues for the Three Seas region in the face of the war in Ukraine were addressed.

The Congress was opened by the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda, and the minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Zbigniew Rau. One of the key debates in the Three Seas Local Government Congress was targeting development of transport infrastructure. Discussions were held at the highest level of the government with the Prime Minister of Poland - Mateusz Morawiecki, Minister of Education and Science - dr. hab. Przemyslav Czarnek, and transport ministers and their deputies from nine of the 3SI member countries participating: Nikolay Sabev, Minister of Transport and Communication, Bulgaria; Konstantinos A. Karamanlis, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Greece; Julius Skackauskas, Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications, Lithuania; Talis Linkaitis, Minister of Transport, Latvia; Sorin Mihai Grindeanu, Deputy Prime Minister, Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Romania; Andrej Doležol, Minister of Transport and Construction, Slovakia; Oleksandr Kubrakov, Minister of Infrastructure, Ukraine; Laszio Mosoczi, Secretary of State for Transport Policy in the Ministry of Innovations and Technology, Hungary.

Attendees shared opinions on energy security in the volatile time considering the geopolitical developments and war in Ukraine, regulation programs as a platform of cooperation and development of agriculture and rural areas of the Three Seas region - a subject, not so often discussed, but vital for the economic growth of the region and rising concerns food supply shortage in the world. Another progress and innovation-oriented panel was dedicated to the cooperation among the universities and educational sector of the 3SI’s region.

Both days concluded with an economic forum, where companies from 3SI were able to present themselves and their views for business-to-business cooperation.

Watch the recording here.