Platform North – A new Nordic collaboration on transport
200 participants gathered in Luleå with a focus on cross-border collaboration on infrastructure in Northern Norway, Northern Sweden, and Northern Finland.
The new collaboration platform has been named Platform North. Minister of Transport Jon-Ivar Nygård and Sweden's Minister for Infrastructure Anders Carlson attended the conference. Also present were Director of Roads Ingrid Dahl Hovland and the corresponding directors from Sweden and Finland.
– It is important that we strengthen and coordinate our efforts to meet the increasing demands on the transportation systems in the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Platform North will contribute to collaboration across the Nordic countries, says Director of Roads Ingrid Dahl Hovland.
The conference in Luleå was a high-level meeting between authorities, politicians, businesses, and academia.
The fundamental purpose of Platform North is to become an umbrella organization for cross-border planning of transport and infrastructure in the Nordic North. The need has been triggered by three key factors:
- Industrial investments
- The green transition
- Increased focus on military mobility
Is meant to function as an icebreaker
The theme of the first day of the conference was to present the goals and purpose of Platform North and how the work will continue.
Under the title 'Nordic cooperation in practice,' Minister of Transport Jon-Ivar Nygård, Minister for Infrastructure Andreas Carlsson, and Jarkko Saarimäki, Director General of the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency, participated.
All emphasized the cooperation that already exists between the governments and welcomed Platform North as an additional contribution to accelerating infrastructure planning in the Nordic North.
Infrastructure Minister Andreas Carlson compared Platform North to an icebreaker:
– The cross-border cooperation should be stable, able to open roads, and unstoppable.
An initiative welcomed by the EU
The Platform North initiative is also welcomed by the EU, and the entire conference was led by EU coordinators Pat Cox (TEN-T Scandinavian-Mediterranean, ScanMed) and Catherine Trautmann (TEN-T North Sea Baltic corridor).
– Cooperation is one of the EU's most important values, so let's do it together within Platform North, said Catherine Trautmann.
The second day of the conference focused on business and the green transition, as well as the increased demand for military mobility.