I think that the reason why we have come so far in developing the regional cooperating in this part of Europe is that we have never been completely satisfied. It is always possible to do more”, the Minister said to approximately 100 participants that represented many different parts of the Danish society.

The Minister underlined that the Danish export to the region was worth 400 billion DKK and hence important to the Danish economy. The Minister, who had just visited the three Baltic States including the BDF Summit in Riga Latvia, mentioned the importance of setting a broad growth agenda. The maritime sector, energy and Russia were among the topics raised. Furthermore, the Minister made reference to the cooperation between investment promotion agencies which the Baltic Development Forum is resposible for within the partly EU financed One BSR Project in the Baltic Sea Region, which is seen as a promising initiative to promote the region globally.  Read the full speech (in Danish only).

Minister for European Affairs, Nicolai Wammen
Photo: HASSE FERROLD

Steen Bach Nielsen, S from Region Zealand
Photo: HASSE FERROLD

The Head of Region Zealand, Steen Bach Nielsen (S) also underlined how important the region was to the future development of Region Zealand: “It has become part of our everyday activities”, he said. He also mentioned that the development of the Fehmarn belt region with Germany was essential in the future as the Oresund region with Sweden was today. The special cross-border cooperation with Germany within the STRING programme was part of the endeavours to tighten the many links on all levels with German partners.

MEP Morten Løkkegaard, Venstre
Photo: HASSE FERROLD

Member of European Parliament, Morten Løkkegaard spoke about EU’s next budget and the negotiations between the Council and the European Parliament emphasizing that the negotiations were still ongoing. One controversial issue was the Connecting Europe Facility that could also be very important to the Baltic Sea Region. Furthermore, he mentioned how important communication was to becoming a successful model region in Europe. He praised BDF’s initiative to improve communication and highlighted that the Parliament played an important role in this regard.

BDF Director Hans Brask
Photo: HASSE FERROLD

The seminar was organized by the Baltic Development Forum together with the Danish Ministry of Foreign affairs, the European Commission in Denmark, Danish Regions and the Ministry of Business and Growth.

High on the agenda was also the Danish programming of the structural funds and how they were supporting the EU strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. Among the speakers in the seminar were the Danish Maritime Authority that highlighted the work within clean and safe shipping and the Danish Nature Agency that spoke on the present Danish HELCOM Presidency.

Both ministries will be cooperating with the Baltic Development Forum on the stakeholder conference that will take place 3 October in Copenhagen back-to-back with the HELCOM ministerial. The Confederation of Danish Industry equally saw many opportunities in the closer cooperation in this field not least for promotion of clean-tech solutions.

Photo: HASSE FERROLD

See more on the conference programme (in Danish only):

www.conferencemanager.dk/danskeprioriteringer

And here are the links to the slides shown at the seminar:

Lars Albæk Baltic Sea Cluster Development Centre _10 juni 2013

Strukturfondsprogrammer 2014-20 Niels Bjerring Hansen

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Read the post: Danish seminar on the Baltic Sea Region cooperation: “We need to do much more” / Read the blog: Baltic Development Forum
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 Det er naturligvis også med det som afsæt, at den danske regering har valgt en ambitiøs tilgang til Østersøsamarbejdet og til de mange netværks- og projektbaserede aktiviteter, der er i gang i regionen. Samarbejdet er i dag tættere og mere forgrenet, end vel selv Hans-Dietrich Genscher og Uffe Ellemann-Jensen kunne have håbet på. Der er rigtig meget, som er gået godt, og som har skabt mærkbare forbedringer for de befolkninger, der lever omkring Østersøen, men der er set med danske øjne stadig en hel del, hvor der er brug for, at vi nu skærper indsatsen. Jeg tror at vi er kommet et lang i udviklingen af samarbejdet i vores del af Europe, fordi vi aldrig har stillet os tilfredse. Der er mere vi kan gøre. Jeg vil i dag gerne kort opridse, hvor det er. Hvor behovene er, og hvor mulighederne er set med danske briller?

For det første er der hele vækstdagsordenen. Østersøregionen er Danmarks nærmarked, og den har fortsat kæmpe økonomisk betydning for os, også i en tid hvor mange ellers taler om Kina, Brasilien, Indien og de andre nye vækstlande. Desuden rummer Østersøregionen jo faktisk et BRIK-land – nemlig Rusland, så for dansk eksport har regionen det hele. Traditionelle nærmarkeder, nye hovedmarkeder som Polen, højvækstlande som de baltiske og tilmed et BRIK-land. Faktisk går 40% af Danmarks samlede eksport til landene omkring Østersøen, hvilket svarer til næsten 400 milliarder kroner. Det er immervæk en del!

Foto: HASSE FERROLD

Derfor er for Danmark også magtpåliggende at sikre, at forudsætningerne for den danske eksport til Østersøregionen er i orden og hele tiden trimmes og udvikles. Det drejer sig ikke mindst om infrastruktur. For tretten år siden åbnede vi Øresundsbroen til gavn for arbejdsmarkedet og den økonomiske vækst i Danmark og Sydsverige. Om otte år indvier vi den faste forbindelse til Tyskland over Femern-bæltet. Det er alt sammen udtryk for en ambitiøs tilgang til regionens fremtid, men store investeringer i infrastruktur giver ikke økonomisk vækst i sig selv. Der kræves også en indsats for at styrke samarbejdet indenfor erhvervsliv, uddannelse og forskning. Og det er ikke mindst her, at jeg ser plads og rum for mere målrettet regionalt samarbejde.

Jeg er glad for, at Region Sjælland – som jeg har fornøjelsen at besøge senere i dag i Sorø – har taget mange konkrete skridt til at udvikle samarbejdet med vores tyske naboer på den anden side af Femern-bælt. Det er et område, hvor Danmark vil arbejde målrettet for, at der bliver anvendt flere EU-midler i de kommende år. De store metropoler i Østersøregionen udgør vores væsentligste vækstmotorer. De kan manifesterer sig internationalt og spiller en stor rolle i at tiltrække udenlandske investeringer.

Europaminister Nicolai Wammen og BDF direktør, Hans Brask                            Foto HASSE FERROLD

De fleste af landene omkring Østersøen er relativ små og åbne økonomier, hvor handel og investeringer fra udlandet har stor betydnig. Tiltrækning af investeringer spiller derfor en stor rolle for udviklingen af disse økonomier, og det gælder i høj grad også for den danske. Her viser internationale målinger imidlertid, at vi skal være bedre til at gøre opmærksom på vores kompetencer og kvalifikationer overfor udenlandske samarbejdspartnere. Det være sig offentlige såvel som de private.

Jeg synes, at det er et spændende intiativ, som Baltic Development Forum har taget på dette område, hvor alle investeringsfremmeorganisationerne er samlet i en møderække for at drøfte, hvordan man får vores del af verdenen bedre placeret på verdenskorter. Virksomheder skal konkurrere med hinanden, for det bliver vi alle sammen kollektivt betragtet rigere af, men det samme gælder ikke nødvendigvis for en konkurrence mellem lande. Jeg er tværtimod sikker på, at vi kan styke vores gennemslagskraft, hvis vi bliver bedre til at koordinere vores indsatser og forstår at komplimentere hinandens erhvervsmæssige styrkepositioner, så udenlandske virksomheder forstår, at ”Top of Europe” er et dynamisk og erhvervsvenligt område, der er værd at investere i. Det får vi alle mere ud af. Når kagen bliver større, får vi alle hver især et større stykke. Det er jo den samme logik, der er på spil, når vi ønsker at udvikle Øresund- og Femern-bælt regionen.

For det andet er der maritim sikkerhed, hvor Danmark og Finland sammen leder arbejdet med at føre målsætningerne i EU’s østersøstrategi ud i livet.  Én af vores ambitioner er, at Østersøen skal blive en foregangsregion for såkaldt e-Navigation. E-Navigation er en model for, hvordan man gennem gradvis introduktion af moderne digital kommunikation i den maritime transportsektor kan øge sikkerhed og miljøbeskyttelse, skabe større effektivitet og samtidig kan reducere administrative byrder og omkostninger til glæde for såvel besætningerne ombord på skibene, rederne og myndigheder inde på land. Med udgangspunkt i østersøstrategien har danske myndigheder og virksomheder – i et tæt samarbejde med partnere i andre østersølande udviklet og testet konceptet for e-Navigation. Det er nu i færd med at blive accepteret som ny global standard i FNs Søfartsorganisation IMO. Jeg håber virkelig, at danske virksomheder kender deres besøgelsestid her, for e-Navigation rummer et stort potentiale for dansk eksport. Danmark står allerede i dag stærkt indenfor den maritime sektor, og det skal vi udnytte fremadrettet.

 Europaminister´Nicolai Wammen                   Foto: HASSE FERROLD

For det tredje har Danmark taget et særligt ansvar på energiområdet under EU’s Østersøstrategi. Jeg vil på energiområdet især gerne fremhæve den såkaldte Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan (BEMIP), der fokuserer på at opkoble alle østersølandene til EU’s energimarkeder samt forbedre forsyningssikkerheden. Jeg håber, at Energistyrelsen fortsat vil være drivende for samarbejdet om at forbedre det indre marked for energi.

Som det sidste vil jeg gerne nævne et par af de samarbejdsfora, hvor den praktiske udmøntning jo finder sted indenfor de forskellige politikområder. De fortjener at blive fremhævet, for der foregår faktisk et godt og konstruktivt samarbejde her på rigtig mange områder. Det gælder eksempelvis HELCOM, der jo arbejder for et renere miljø i Østersøen, og hvor Danmark p.t. sidder i formandsstolen. Det vil I høre mere om senere i dag. Der er selvfølgelig også selve Østersørådet, hvor udenrigsministeren i sidste uge deltog i rådets møde i Kaliningrad. Det var et godt møde, og Kaliningrad dokumenterer med al ønskelig tydelighed, at der fortsat eksisterer store forskelle mellem de forskellige dele af Østersøregionen.

Mine damer og herrer, nu er titlen for dette seminar ”nye mål, ny midler”. Vi har chancen for at få fastlagt anvendelsen af sturkturfondsmidler for 2013-2020, så det passer til målsætningerne i EU Østersøstrategi. Under det danske EU-formandskab vedtog vi konklusioner om de nye retninglinjer for strategien, og vi har nu alle en forpligtelse til at tage disse målsætninger ind i planlægningen af midlernes anvendelse. Det vil vi også gør fra dansk side. Det gør regeringen ikke alene, men i samarbejde med regionerne og andre partnere. Det vil I høre mere om senere i dag, så det vil jeg ikke gå nærmere ind i. Jeg vil blot sige, at dette arbejde er uhyre vigtigt, og at rammerne nu er sat for at få skabt konkrete resultater dér, hvor det tæller. Lad os sammen gå i gang med at udfylde dem. Jeg er overbevist om, at det vil lykkes.

Mange tak!

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Read the post: Europaministerens tale: Østersøsamarbejdet – Nye Mål, Nye Midler / Read the blog: Baltic Development Forum
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H.E. Prime Minister of Lithuania, Aligardas Butkevicus, H.E. Prime Minister of Latvia, Valdis Dombrovskis, H.E. Prime Minister of Estonia, Andrus Ansip, Director of BDF, Hans Brask

The 15^th Baltic Development Forum Summit 29-30 June in Riga, Latvia sent a strong signal: Latvia and the Baltic States have returned to the Top of Europe, demonstrating high economic growth figures and optimism for the future as well as high hopes for regional and European integration.

Baltic Prime Ministers

One of the highlights of the Summit was the plenary session with the three Baltic Prime Ministers underlining the positive results of their tough austerity programmes and structural reforms. These reforms have enabled Latvia specifically to live up to the criteria for joining the Eurozone by 1 June 2014, as Lithuania is taking over the Presidency of the EU Council. The Baltic States are now almost out of the crisis, while many parts of Europe still suffer.

The three Prime Ministers hoped for new policies that can deepen the internal market of the EU, especially in the digital area and energy, and that infrastructure could be further developed for example in the field of railway transportation. The Eurozone is attractive to the Baltic States as it provides trust to the economies and helps boosting FDI. Stronger efforts in the educational sector, lifelong learning and R&D were also highlighted as essentials for staying competitive.

The Baltic Sea region cooperation will figure high on the Lithuanian Presidency, hosting the 2013 Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the region. The main focus will be on sustainable development. Better relations with Eastern neighbours also figure high on the agenda. The Baltic Sea Region is dynamic, the Prime Ministers emphasised, and the next step is to keep up with policies that can maintain the present situation.

State of the Region Report – cautious optimism

Hence the overall Summit message was one of optimism but also cautiousness, realizing that Europe is deeply integrated. The State of the Region Report 2013 documents that the post-crisis recovery has slowed down significantly in the region. The crisis in the Eurozone and elsewhere has influenced the economic outlook which is still fragile. The countries of the Baltic Sea Region have relatively sustainable public finances and no severe debt burden. Unemployment has risen but much less than in the rest of Europe. The region’s competitiveness fundamentals have stayed unchanged and strong over the recent years. The trade intensity is high and the total trade is on the level before the crisis in 2008 although the region is losing global export market shares.

Christian Ketels, Principal Associate, Harvard Business School.
Photo: HASSE FERROLD

Two different modes of internationalization is emerging. Germany, Poland, and the Baltic States are strongly export-driven, engaging in global value chains at different stages. The Nordic countries are more FDI-driven, attracting knowledge-seeking investment but otherwise engaging in international value chains through activities located abroad but owned from the Nordics.

The European crisis calls for new ways of thinking how to keep Europe together. It requires different and new configurations for dialogue and cooperation. Regional cooperation has European potential as an instrument of crisis management.

Baltic Sea Award: Bildt and Sikorski

In the light hereof, the 2013 Baltic Sea Award was given to Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Mr. Carl Bildt and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Mr. Radoslaw Sikorski, for their extraordinary and several joint efforts to create an open and embracing Baltic Sea cooperation. The two have jointly taken initiatives to foster political dialogue, new configurations and cooperation in Europe. They have in particular taken initiatives to improve dialogue and partnership with Eastern neighbours and to move beyond traditional thinking.

Innovation and the Baltic Sea Innovation Award

From left: ProcessIT, Anders Johansson, Fmr. President of Latvia, Vaira Vike-Freiberga

At the Summit it was discussed how the region could maintain its world leading position in the field of innovation. Cross-border cluster cooperation and integration of companies, research institutions and universities were taken up, underlying the need to have a real flagship project in the field that matches the international reputation of the region. Exchange of best practice remains a key objective. Project development in the field was called for.

The Baltic Sea Innovation Award was given to the European consortia, ProcessIT, headed by Anders Johansson. ProcessIT is leading the biggest automation project in Europe and has taken many innovative steps. The project involves i.a. three universities in Sweden, Poland and Finland.

Political cooperation in the Region

The Summit discussed trends and directions of the regional cooperation with special focus on the EU Strategy for the Baltic See Region but also other regional cooperation frameworks, the Northern Dimension, the Council of the Baltic Sea States and the decentralized levels. The different formats creates still some confusion and the Summit message was that a pragmatic approach with focus on concrete cooperation efforts is needed.

The economic dynamics: Manufacturing and regional value chains

The Summit also presented a new understanding of the manufacturing sector (together with McKinsey) as an important driver for economic growth, research, service and employment. The call was not to return to old – protectionist – industrial policy, but to recognize the sector’s importance for export, competitiveness, FDI, R&D and for the internationalization of the economies. A message from the Summit was that this sector needs to return on the agenda as the Region has a strong manufacturing potential. The Latvian economic recovery is an example of how this sector can be a driver for growth.

Business matchmaking and Baltic Business Arena

The importance of business matchmaking is significant at the Summit where the participants were evenly divided between business and administration/politics. Many business meetings were even pre-booked within the framework of the Baltic Business Arena where SME’s from the Region met to exploit cooperation and export opportunities.

Competitiveness – at the centre of regional attention

A key message was also that the improvement of the region’s competitiveness has to stay on top of the regional and European agenda. Representatives from private and public sectors, economists and financing sector representatives from the Baltic Sea Region and beyond had a round table discussion on how this can be ensured and whether Baltic Development Forum could play a stronger role in this regard through stronger policy advocacy, conferences, research and different analysis. It is also important to ensure that this agenda has full attention within the cooperation frameworks of the EU strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. One way to ensure this can be to set up a Competitiveness Advisory Council for the Baltic Sea Region.

EU strategy for the Baltic Sea Region – need to boost the prosperity chapter

Another key message was that the chapter of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) on “Prosperity” needs further progress and vitalization. It includes regional endeavours to help implement the objectives and legislation of the internal market, entrepreneurship, SME’s in particular but also industry and manufacturing. There is a need to present new project proposals and new ideas in this field.

The digital economy: BSR inspiring Europe

The Baltic Sea Region hosts some of the world’s leading companies and clusters within ICT and the digital economy. To maintain this position and to inspire the rest of Europe the internal market can be further developed and deepened through joint cross-border projects in the region based on the national experiences within e-services, e-health and e-government, as a first step to pan-European solutions. The Summit urged national governments to push the development of joint e-services. The region can position itself as a test bed for how Big Data/Public Open Data can boost growth and new initiatives among web-entrepreneurs. National e-government initiatives are appearing, but cross-national exchange was limited and a need to link them up was identified.

Concerted investment promotion initiatives

The BSR is becoming increasingly dependent on foreign direct investment (FDI) in the internationalization of the economies. The Baltic Sea Region is becoming a well-known European model, empowering it to promote the region’s international attractiveness more widely and in a concerted manner. The cooperation between the Region’s investment promotion agencies, who met in Riga in connection with the Summit, is finding ways to attract investors. The ICT sector was taken up in this regard. City branding and promotion as part of investment attraction was also addressed with the inspiration from the work in Stockholm Business Region.

Blue growth – a need for integrated sector focus

A final summit message was that the maritime economies are essential to the prosperity of the region today. In close cooperation with the EU and DG Mare of the European Commission, this agenda is being unfolded under the headline of Blue Growth. The blue growth agenda lives up to the sustainability objective of the Baltic Sea cooperation where the main focus is a cleaner Baltic Sea. The region has the opportunity of taking full advantage of this blue economy, which is part of the EU’s 2020 strategy, and to act as a model region for integrated solutions.

On 3 October 2013 in Copenhagen, BDF will take up this issue together with the Ministers of the Environment meeting in the framework of the HELCOM Ministerial and the European Commission, DG Mare.

Finding further common ground with Russia

Regional integration and project initiatives are increasing, but more should be done to exploit the neighborhood with Russia. Russia’s Presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) has demonstrated a wish for such efforts. Also, the Northern Dimension partnership frameworks provide an opportunity that has not been fully exploited. The external dimension of the EU strategy for the Baltic Sea Region should be strengthened.

BDF and regional partners will address the issue of how stronger regional value chains can include Russia, to help upgrade the overall competitiveness of the region. The involvement of business partners and organisations is an objective in itself. These issues will have stronger emphasis at the next BDF Summit in 2014 in Turku. BDF will work in close partnership with the in-coming Finnish CBSS Presidency in this endeavour.

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Read the post: Key messages from the BDF Summit in Riga 2013 / Read the blog: Baltic Development Forum
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Within the Rensol project, Baltic Development Forum and Nordic Council of Ministers’ Information Office in Kaliningrad, organised 4 June a Round Table meeting on financing models for energy efficiency projects in Kaliningrad, Russia. The meeting took place in connection with the V Forum of partner region 2-5 June in Kaliningrad.

At the seminar different financing institutions participated including European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), International Finance Corporation (part of the World Bank Group), Export Credit Agency (EKF/Denmark), Vneshekonombank (Russia), Transcapitalbank (Russia), Nordic Energy Finance Corporation (NEFCO/Nordic) as well as Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (Germany) as well as representatives from private Nordic banks (Nordea). The Bank and IFIs were invited to present how they could contribute to finding solutions to energy efficiency projects. The meeting was moderated by Hans Brask, Director of Baltic Development Forum and Arne Grove, Head of the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Information Office in Kaliningrad (see programme).

The important administrative and political framework conditions in the energy field in Russia was presented at the opening of the conference. As all the bankers were saying stable and transparent framework conditions were crucial for all project financing. Not least the energy tariffs are crucial to know in the years ahead. The payback time of energy projects in Russia are very short – partly due to the same framework condition issue – and energy project description are therefore very important.

Ieva Petruzyte, Consultant working for Baltic Development Forum presented the preliminary finding of the report on different financing models on energy efficiency projects in Russia and in neighbouring countries. The potential for such energy projects is huge and the Baltic Sea Region countries are able to offer state of the art practices, solutions and technologies. Hence the basis for strong links in the region is obvious but often financing remains an obstacle for closer cooperation and the success of projects. The seminar was part of the preparation of the final report, which will be ready after the summer break.

To the meeting representatives from 7-8 municipalities were invited to present the top priority projects in the energy field and the very positive outcome of the Round Table was that the bankers were all very positive toward the presented projects. The meeting was attended by more than 60 people and entailed a lot of contacts, and many follow-up meetings are planned for the future.

The banks and the IFI appreciated the seminar and the direct encounter and were positive towards copying this type of meeting in other parts of North-west Russia. There are possibilities to have positive multiplying effects, which is one of the ultimate objectives of the Rensol project.

The partly EU-financed Rensol project, which is led by BDF, is promoting regional cooperation in Russia in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions. The project covers exchange of best practices and technologies and includes regional partners from Denmark, Sweden and Finland. Focus is on the municipal level in the Kaliningrad region but the objective is to find models and solutions that can be applied in other parts of Russia as well. See the Rensol website for more information – www.rensol.eu.

For more information contact:

Director Hans Brask, Baltic Development Forum or Arne Grove, Head of Information Office in Kaliningrad.

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Read the post: Successful energy Round Table meeting in Kaliningrad 4 June 2013 / Read the blog: Baltic Development Forum
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Danish Minister for European Affairs, Nicolai Wammen, is main speaker on Monday 10 June 2013, 09.30 – 12.30 at the

The Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) is witnessing a dynamic development and the Northern Dimension is an important reference point for cooperation with Russia, Norway and Iceland. The EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region has manifested itself as an important reference document when the Baltic Sea Region countries have to prioritize their cooperation objectives. With the agreement on the EU budget for the next 7 years in place, the partnership agreements with the European Commission have to be drafted. But which policy areas will Denmark prioritise and which funds are available. What are the Danish visions and objectives with the regional cooperation? These questions will be addressed at the conference.

All stakeholders are invited to take part. After the seminar you can attend a networking lunch. The conference is free of charge. For registration and more information in Danish please go to www.conferencemanager.dk/danskeprioriteringer where the detailed program is be presented. For questions contact Project Assistant Freja Klein (fk@bdforum.org / +45 70209394).

The seminar is organized in collaboration between Baltic Development Forum, the European Commission, the Ministry og Business and Growth, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Danish Regions.

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Read the post: Danish visions for cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region – new objectives, new resources / Read the blog: Baltic Development Forum
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A success! The most focused Summit ever in a very pleasant and effective atmosphere!

Those were the words used at the end of the three day discussions and matchmaking in Riga last week at the 15th Baltic Development Forum Summit. More than 600 participants registered and more than 100 companies were present.

The three Prime Ministers of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania were very much in line regarding the importance and necessity of the austerities their countries had performed in order to tackle the crisis in the recent years. The Baltic States are now out of the crisis, but the rest of Europe is still in deep crisis. Our part of Europe is dynamic and the next step is to keep up with policies that could maintain the situation and work towards a genuine single market.

From left: BDF Board Member, Helle Bechgaard,H.E. Prime Minister of Lithuania, Algirdas Butkevicius, H.E. Prime Minister of Estonia, Andrus Ansip, H.E. Prime Minister of Latvia, Valdis Dombrovskis, Director of BDF, Hans Brask

H.E. Prime Minister of Latvia, Valdis Dombrovskis
Photo: HASSE FERROLD

Valdis Dombrovskis, Prime Minister of Latvia, underlined that compared to the US and Japan the ongoing crisis in Europe is not mainly a debt crisis but a competitiveness crisis. Educating people to the future job markets is essential, he said.

H.E. Prime Minister of Estonia, Andrus Ansip

Andrus Ansip, Prime Minister of Estonia, spoke about prioritizing the North-South Rail Baltica project due to the fact that all railways today go east to Moscow, which keeps the prices high and the competitiveness low.

H.E. Prime Minister of Lithuania, Algirdas Butkevicius

Algirdas Butkevicius, Prime Minister of Lithuania and incoming Chairman of the European Council, has two main goals for the Lithuanian presidency: gathering the Eastern Partnership Summit and prioritizing the Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region in a credible Europe. Like his two colleagues, the Prime Minister mentioned transport and energy being high on the agenda.

H.E. President of Latvia, Andris Berzins, accompanied by BDF Chairman, Hans Skov Christensen.
Photo: HASSE FERROLD

For more Summit photos visit BDF at Flickr:

Coming Soon: KEY MESSAGES

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Read the post: High-level BDF Summit showed the opportunities in the aftermath of the crisis / Read the blog: Baltic Development Forum
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Watch the Baltic Sea Award acceptance speeches:

Carl Bildt, Foreign Minister of Sweden – video

Radoslaw Sikorski, Foreign Minister of Poland – video

Announcement and presentation of the winners:

Baltic Sea Award Announcement – Hans Skov Christensen / Aris Zigurs – video

Baltic Sea Award accepted by H.E. Ambassador Mats Staffansson and H.E. Ambassador Nowakowski – video

From left: H.E. Ambassador of Poland to Latvia, Jerzy Marek Nowakowski, Chairman of BDF, Hans Skov Christensen, H.E. Ambassador of Sweden to Latvia, Mats Staffansson and CEO of Latvenergo AS, Aris Zigurs.
Photo: HASSE FERROLD

For more Summit photos visit BDF at flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/baltic-development-forum/

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Read the post: Two foreign Ministers win the BDF Baltic Sea Award / Read the blog: Baltic Development Forum
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Based on the strength of the BSR platform and the cooperation within the European consortia, ProcessIT is now leadling the biggest automation project in Europe. “We are very honored and consider it as a confirmation of the hard work we have done for the last seven-eight years to increase the innovation capacity in the process, automation and ICT industry”, says Anders OE Johansson, CEO of ProcessIT.Process IT Innovations is an innovation organisation based in NorthernSweden. It The organisation brings together process industry and ICT companies as well as universities in Finland, Poland and Sweden.

From left: Anders OE Johansson, CEO of ProcessIT, Fmr. President of Latvia, Vaira Vike-Freiberga.
Photo: HASSE FERROLD

The BSR Innovation Award is presented by BSR Stars and Baltic Development Forum, BDF. The aim of the award is to promote global competitiveness and innovative development in the Baltic Sea Region, through groundbreaking methods and smart solutions to common challenges.

The Award of 5 000 Euros was presented for the third time at a ceremony in Riga on 29 May.

See the BSR Innovation Award 2013 – video

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Read the post: The BSR Innovation Award to ProcessIT Innovations / Read the blog: Baltic Development Forum
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The scene is set. VIPs, speakers, participants, media and organisers – more than 500 people – can look forward to a special Baltic Development Forum Summit 2013. The 15^th in a row with high-level agenda, discussions creating the basis for future fruitful results.

If you take a look at the Summit programme (www.bsr2013) you will find events covering full scale the needs for everyone. Get a solid overview of the State of Region and be surprised to find optimism ahead. Get the toolbox to innovative cross-border financing and investment. Find your inner artist, your way to improve your business framework, your niche in industry and manufacturing.

The Summit offers a Networking Village with only first class goods on the shelves. It is also an exclusive meeting place in the Baltic Business Arena and a melting pot for informal mingling and making useful contacts.

Not to forget the actual inputs from the three Baltic States Prime Ministers on their priorities to upgrade competitiveness in the Baltic Sea macro-Region in the aftermath of the European financial and economic crisis.

More than 500 participants can´t be wrong. The Baltic Development Forum´s 15^th Summit is a “must”.

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Read the post: More than 500 participants will attend the 15th BDF Summit in Riga / Read the blog: Baltic Development Forum
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Among topics discussed in Espoo were:

1. State of play after the review of the EU Strategy
2. Communicating the EU Strategy
3. Targets and indicators for the EU Strategy
4. Seed money facilities in the Baltic Sea Region

It was concluded at the very useful meeting that the question of leadership and visibility of the EU strategy should be addressed as a priority. This also covers how to make the best use of existing structures on the ground (CBSS, Baltic Sea State Councils, Baltic Sea Summit), including the idea of a rotating Presidency for the Strategy. The role and involvement of National and European Parliaments should be considered, and Member States should ask sectorial councils to discuss how to include the macro-regional strategies in their work.

The responsible actors within the Strategy should work more closely with managing authorities of the Structural Fund programmes, in order to strengthen the overall coherence of the Strategy. The Swedish structure for implementation of the EU Strategy, was acknowledged as a good example of how to establish a consistent network as a link between the EU Strategy and the country’s needs.

When it comes to external communication, storytelling seminars (“emotional messages”) was recommended to help spreading information about the EU Strategy. The BDF initiative “newsWave”, www.newsvawe.eu, was mentioned in Espoo as one of the good examples of external communication, aiming at engaging citizens and civil society in topics related to the Baltic Sea Region.

“BDF supports the intention of strong commitments, high ambitions and clear responsibility for the Strategy, including a visible leadership”, says Torben Aaberg, Head of Public Affairs, who represented BDF in Espoo. “However, we should avoid bureaucratic structures around and within the Strategy. This region is built on informal co-operations and networks. Too many formalized governing structures will affect our flexible ways of working and communicating” he adds, recognising that leadership is crucial.

The Espoo meeting also addressed the fact that several seed money facilities now are available for projects within the Strategy: “Just one year ago everyone asked for seed money to support new project ideas and new ways of co-operating. Now four interesting funding facilities are available, a situation never seen before. Let’s make the most of these new opportunities” Torben Aaberg suggests.

Download Seed Money Facilities in the Baltic Sea Region Fact Sheet

EU Strategy to be discussed in Riga and Vilnius

The 2013 State of the Region Report points at the lack of private stakeholders as a weakness of the EU Strategy: “…the engagement of the private sector is still low; the argument for why Baltic Sea Region collaboration should be something companies in the Region should worry about has so far not been made successfully”. Engaging the business sector in the Strategy, especially in topics related to growth and competitiveness, is one of the priorities for BDF as a public-private platform for the regional stakeholders.

The same report addresses the question of leadership of the EU Strategy, suggesting “…the existing coordination mechanisms to be more visibly empowered. They need to be able to not only organize the activities directly focused on regional collaboration, but be able to achieve coordination across other policy areas as well”.

Also the 2013 Political State of the Region Report comments on the further institutionalization of the Strategy. The Commission’s proposals of a large number of steering committees and rotating presidencies may be indicating that “..the Commission wants to re-export the responsibility for the strategy to the region which would come too early”. One of the reasons being that ”…the regional organisations and bodies continuously do not seem sufficiently capable of taking full responsibility for the strategy”.

These and other questions related to the EU Strategy will be discussed at the 15^th BDF Summit in Riga. BDF has taken the opportunity to invite the participants in the NCP meeting in Riga 28 May to the Summit Early Arrival Reception immediately after the meeting.

This year’s Annual Forum for the EU Strategy is organized 11-12 Nov 2013 in Vilnius, Lithuania. The NCP meeting concluded that next year’s Annual Forum will be located in Turku (Finland) on 3-4 June 2014. The Turku event will be co-organised with the 16^th Baltic Development Summit and the Finnish CBSS Presidency’s Ministerial meeting.

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Read the post: EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region: Where are we heading? / Read the blog: Baltic Development Forum
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