Baltic Assembly participating in the Nordic Council’s webinars about digitalisation and antimicrobial resistance

On 3 March 2021, two webinars organized by the Nordic Council in partnership with the European Parliament were held – “The Nordics go digital – How does it fit with Europe’s move to a Digital Age?” and “Antimicrobial resistance - a silent threat in a noisy pandemic era”.

During the first webinar, experts and parliamentarians discussed questions related to industry, consumer, societal and educational challenges in the context of a digital future. President of the Nordic Council Bertel Haarder noted that the Nordic-Baltic cooperation has benefited from the shock of the crisis and will continue benefitting in the future. Digital market and interconnectivity, artificial intelligence is one of the priorities of the Baltic Assembly and the Nordic Council. During the meeting, it was also highlighted that examples of best practices need to be shared between the Baltic and Nordic countries as well. COVID-19 has forced the states to continue their digital transformation more quickly, but it is important to note that switching to digital education is not simple, since it is needed to ensure that everyone is able to participate qualitatively, both pupils and the teachers.

During the second webinar, perspectives and concerns about antimicrobial resistance and ways to accelerate efforts and explore links with COVID-19 were discussed. One of the areas of focus for the Lithuanian presidency in 2021 is antibiotics resistance. During the meeting experts noted that lessons learned from COVID-19 were highlighted as very important in the area of antimicrobial resistance. Three key lessons noted by the Deputy Head of Cabinet Kyriakids and the European Commission Commissioner Annukka Ojala were importance of prevention, countries being stronger together and global threats calling for global solutions.

Cooperation between the Baltic Assembly and the Nordic Council in 2020-2021 also focuses on comprehensive foreign and security policy, including climate and energy issues, climate change mitigation and environmental protection; transport and infrastructure interconnections; sustainable and interconnected energy market; and circular economy in support for sustainable development.