Ministries, which ostensibly share common interests, do not operate in unison. How can this be balanced or rectified?
Usually, when a ministry develops a document or a broader action plan, it cooperates with other ministries: this takes place within the framework of various working (or cooperation) groups. Those involved in the respective processes always know what is happening, where, and how. The problem lies in the willingness (or ability) to share information gathered in cooperation or working groups, or to 'take it to others'. In this regard, I have a vivid example from my work at the Ministry of Agriculture's Forest Policy Department: we organised Forest Days in Latvia (they still take place today). Everyone involved in the organisation knew about them and understood their significance in educating the public. When we commissioned a sociological study to see how many people in Latvia knew about Forest Days, the result surprised us... only about 4-5% of the population were informed about the event. How can that be? To us, the organisers and participants, it seemed self-evident that many things were common knowledge. But, repetition, education, and information are all necessary; in other words, one can rarely talk about something important too much. Incidentally, it happens that events or current affairs are known only to those involved in the specific activity, even within a single ministry. It happens that you learn about many things 'by chance' from the outside, rather than from 'inside' your workplace, i.e., from your colleagues.
My work is linked to the BIOEAST initiative (opportunities for Eastern European countries to receive funding from the European Union), in which 11 countries participate. We, Latvia, are one of the few countries that have developed a bioeconomy strategy. The strategic research and innovation agenda is currently a hot topic. Countries lack a macro-regional perspective for the sustainable development of the economy and the environment. Within the framework of the BIOEASTsUP project, five working groups have been established, and the composition of their participants is still being finalised. The issues are diverse: agroecology, food production and processing, inland fisheries (a field that has been little studied in the EU to date), forestry, and bioenergy. It will be a great opportunity to see our potential in 2030 and to become more competitive and produce high-quality products on a global scale.