Copenhagen Summit 2002

New Bridges across the Baltic Sea Region - Visions and Strategies for the Future Growth Centre in Europe

The 4th Annual Baltic Development Forum Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark on 13-15 October 2002 marked the fourth time that the Baltic Sea region's leading politicians, academics, business and media executives convened for intense crosssector networking and for setting new agendas for the region.

The enlargement of the EU was at the centre of discussions during this year's summit. The enlargement was seen as a vital and urgent task on the EU agenda to maintain stability and increase growth in Europe. The European Council must follow the European Commission's recommendations to conclude accession negotiations with ten candidate countries, and welcome these countries as full EU members in 2004.

The EU must not let national short term considerations delay the major long-term benefits of the enlargement of the EU. It is time to deliver on the Enlargement promises and thus make the Baltic Sea region, including Russia, one of the global gateways to growth and prosperity.

The summit speakers  especially endorsed the need for developing specific priorities for growth and stability in the Baltic Sea region and identified three potential industrial clusters: the ITC cluster, the biotech cluster and the energy cluster. The Baltic Sea region needs to develop these clusters into global industrial clusters through a common intervention and growth policy with the aim of creating a regional knowledge society.

This was the over-all message from the 4th Annual Baltic Development Forum Summit in Copenhagen, which was delivered to the European Council in Brussels 24-25 October 2002, together with the written recommendations.