Report from the Northern Dimension Business Forum

Madame President, Excellencies, distinguished representatives of the Member States of the European Union, the Commission, the SG/HR - and not least the seven partner countries to the Northern Dimension,
Allow me to report to you from the Tallinn Northern Dimension Business Forum which took place 4 april. I have the pleasure to represent the Tallinn Business Forum together with Dr. Fritz Gautier, member of the executive board of Ruhrgas AG, one of the most important economic players in the Baltic Sea Region.
The Tallinn Business Forum was arranged by the Swedish EU Presidency and the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It gathered  80 high-level business leaders from the Baltic Sea Region to discuss the Northern Dimension Action Plan - and to give concrete input to this meeting and to the European Council in Gothenburg.
Focus was on three themes of the Action Plan: IT/Telecom, Transport and Energy.
The main general recommendations are as follows:
The Business Forum supports the Northern Dimension Action Plan wholeheartedly.
Because – first of all – it gives the necessary framework to deal with the two great challenges facing the European Union: They are EU enlargement plus the integration of Russia into Europe. The Enlargement and the integration of Russia go hand in hand. This is why the Northern Dimension Action Plan is viewed by the business community as the most important policy instrument for achieving the necessary win-win situation in the Baltic Sea Region. The business community calls for a coherent Region with no country lacking far behind!
The Business Forum considers that the Action Plan also gives the necessary tools for achieving this goal, namely ways to cooperate in all the fields necessary for creating a Baltic Sea Home Market.
And this is exactly what the business community is looking for: A true home market, with fair competition, equal treatment, no discrimenation and a point which cannot be stressed enough: A favourable business climate with quality and predictability in the legal fabric, also as regards enforcement and the application of legislation.
The business community is in other words looking for the same kind of dynamism which characterised the establishing of the single market of the EU.
A concrete proposal from Tallinn is for the Commission to introduce, as quickly as possible, benchmarking for best practise in the Northern Dimension business community as well as the countries concerned.
In order for the whole process to be given the necessary speed we simply need to introduce competition among ourselves. Allow me to phrase it in another way: If we could combine the Northen Dimension Action Plan with the methodology of Jacques Delor’s white book on the single market we have created more than a plan, we will have created history!
Another message from the business community to this distinguished Conference is the need to start a direct dialogue with the Northen Dimension business community. It is with pleasure I see in the conclusions from the chair of this Conference, that a proposal is made concerning a so-called ND Forum with participation from inter alia the business community – a forum that will meet every alternate year.  This is a good proposal, if, at the same, the Commission and the business community  are in a direct and on-going dialogue. Otherwise the contact will be lost.
The last general point form the Talinn Business Forum regards, not surprisingly, financing. The Tallinn Forum considers the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership a promising initiative. The NDEP could prove to be a productive link between ambitions and realities bringing international financial institutions together in order to accomplish the necessary investments in environemnetal projects. The business community hopes that this kind of partnership would also translate into other fields, such as energy, transport and ITC.
Allow me now, ladies and gentlemen, to turn to some of the concrete proposals from the Tallinn Business Forum:
ITC
More attention is needed for appplied ITC education. This is also true as regards employees in the traditional sectors of the economy.  Especially cooperation between educational institutions and science parks is needed. Business would very  much like to be actively involved.
Transport
The creation of a common virtual network infrastructure to support transportation services both in the Region and globally is needed in order to make the transport business more transparent, fast end effective. This is a suitable area for the Northern e-dimension.
Energy
In order to enhance the security of gas and electricity supply, policy makers are adviced to harmonise the national rules to enable the creation of international electricity and gas markets.
Urgent help is needed in securing investments in the electricity and gas infrastructure.
Since the Region has been recommended by the EU as a suitable testing ground for emissions trading and other Kyoto-mechanisms, the electricity and gas industry is impatiently waiting for the governments to create the basic rules needed for test activities for emissions trading and joint implementation.
This last recommendation on the Kyoto-protocol shows just how progressive and forwarding-looking the business community of the Northen Dimensionn is.
These recommendations will as an official document be forwarded to the participants of this Conference by the Swedish Presidency.
The prospects for the Baltic Sea Sea Region have never been as promising as they are today. But this potential cannot be fulfilled without your support.
The Tallinn Business Forum on the Northern Dimension  was a joint event between Sweden as the EU presidency and Estonia as a candidate country. This kind of cooperation is a symbol of the future and an example to follow for future EU Presidencies.
Thank you.