The 5th edition of the 3Seas Local Government Congress and Economic Forum is being held on March 12-13, 2025, in Lublin. The Rector of the Nicolaus Copernicus Superior School attended the international session on the first day of the congress.
The 3Seas Local Government Congress is one of the most important events dedicated to local government cooperation, bringing together representatives of governments, local administration, science and business sector from the countries of the Three Seas Initiative.
The event was opened by the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda, honorary patron of the Congress.
“This format is important for building our prosperity, but also for building the frameworks of our security. Together, we have felt strong and sovereign. And this is what the Three Seas Initiative is all about,” said Andrzej Duda during the opening session ”Three Seas Initiative – summary of the 10th anniversary and the future of the format”.
The President emphasized that he looks back with pride on ten years of the Three Seas Initiative and five years of the 3Seas Local Government Congress. “The idea was to cooperate with each other at all levels, also at the local, regional level, so that local governments might cooperate and translate such cooperation also into business,” he reminded his audience.
Prof. Gertruda Uścińska, Rector of the Nicolaus Copernicus Superior School, participated in the panel “European Commission and European Parliament towards the Three Seas Initiative”, held as part of the international session. The panel was an opportunity to discuss the role of EU institutions in shaping policy towards the Three Seas Initiative. The panelists discussed how the EU can support the development of infrastructure, digitization and energy security in the Three Seas countries. The panel also addressed issues related to the financing of strategic projects and the realization of the Three Seas countries’ interests within the EU. The content partners of the session were the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Political Science and Administration of UKSW.
The leading themes of each edition remain major investment projects in the areas of transport, energy and digitization, current international policy challenges related to the impact of artificial intelligence on various areas of social life: from security to medicine to science and education, countering disinformation, the dynamics of economic and trade relations, as well as the latest trends in innovation and science. During this year’s edition, cooperation was expanded to further areas: deepening knowledge and mutual learning of historical heritage through the establishment of the Three Seas Tourism Network and cooperation between Central European open-air museums..
Invited to the debates were prominent experts from the countries of the Three Seas region, including Lithuania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia, Romania and Greece; associated countries – Ukraine and Moldova, as well as partners of the initiative: USA, Japan, Germany and the European Commission.
