How the Swedish Institute contributed to a resilient Ukraine and strengthened cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region in 2024

In 2024, the Swedish Institute (SI) has continued to play a central role in supporting international cooperation and projects aimed at promoting sustainable development and stronger relations in the Baltic Sea region and the EU’s Eastern Partnership. The number of Swedish stakeholders submitting applications in SI’s open calls has reached a record high, with nearly 100 projects approved within our major funding programmes targeting countries in the region: the SI Baltic Sea Neighbourhood Programme, the SI Ukraine Cooperation Programme, the SI Creative Partnerships Programme, and the SI Academy for Young Professionals. 

Seminar on opportunities and challenges in Swedish-Ukrainian cooperation

The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine is now approaching its fourth year. In 2024, SI launched new support for bilateral collaborations with Ukraine through the SI Ukraine Cooperation Programme, a programme of unprecedented scale in the agency’s history. In the autumn, decisions were made to award funding to 49 projects in the programmes first call. In conjunction with this, SI hosted a seminar at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, where Andrii Plakhotniuk, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Sweden, Ulrik Tideström, Sweden’s Special Envoy for Ukraine’s reconstruction, business, and development, and SI’s Director General, Madeleine Sjöstedt, discussed how Swedish-Ukrainian relations can be further strengthened, as well as the opportunities and challenges of cooperation. 

The event also included representatives from academia, business, and civil society, who presented examples of new and innovative collaborations between Sweden and Ukraine. Among them were some of the more than fifty organizations granted support. 

Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region

One of the major events of the year was the Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR), held in Sweden on October 30–31, 2024. The responsibility for organising the forum rotates among the EU countries around the Baltic Sea, and the last time Sweden hosted the event was in 2016 in Stockholm. This time, Visby was chosen as the host city. The 2024 EUSBSR Annual Forum gathered over 580 participants from across the Baltic Sea region and beyond to engage in discussions on sustainability, resilience, and security. 

The forum is an important platform for fostering cooperation among various stakeholders in the region and also plays a central role in SI’s project funding programme, the SI Baltic Sea Neighbourhood Programme, which contributes to achieving the strategy’s objectives. 

As part of the Annual Forum, SI, together with the Nordic Association Sweden and Region Gotland, organised a side event on October 29. The aim was to engage more stakeholders in implementing the strategy, with a particular focus on including underrepresented groups such as local authorities, civil society, youth organizations, and the business sector. Another goal was to enhance opportunities for cooperation with Ukrainian actors. Close to 200 participants took part in intense and lively discussions on how to strengthen collaboration in areas such as energy, culture, innovation, and tourism within the Baltic Sea region. Participants contributed concrete proposals in various thematic areas, and networking led to new contacts and ideas for future cooperation. 

Ukrainian Participation at the Forum

A significant focus of both the forum and the side event on October 29 was exploring how Ukraine can benefit from the networks and platforms provided by the strategy. Ukrainian participation was substantial during both the side event and the main days of the EUSBSR Annual Forum. SI supported the participation of several Ukrainian attendees to ensure that their voices and perspectives were represented. Ukrainian participants expressed that the sessions at the forum provided a solid foundation for promoting cooperation between Ukraine and the countries involved in the strategy, particularly in addressing shared challenges such as resilience and sustainability. 

Several stakeholders from SI-funded projects participated in the Annual Forum, including the Civil Protection Faculty project. This project aims to support the Ukrainian non-formal education initiative, Vovchok Folk High School, in establishing a Civil Protection Faculty by utilizing best practices from the Baltic Sea region in non-formal education and civil protection. The project is designed to equip Ukrainian educators with expertise from the Baltic Sea Region in civil protection to address the urgent need for tactical skills and crisis competencies in Ukraine. During the forum, representatives from the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, together with the Ukrainian partner Vovchok Folk High School, conducted a well-received demonstration on emergency medical care. The demonstration illustrated practically how cooperation can help address Ukraine’s needs during a time of great challenges.