How to finance energy efficiency in Russia? The market for energy efficiency in Russia is huge and the demand is high but often the financing of the projects is an obstacle. We need to develop the best practice and know the lessons learned. Within the RENSOL project we have an ambition to identify best practice financing engineering models that will…

The Russian Presidency of CBSS (Council for the Baltic Sea States) will be used as a one of many means to join forces with international partner organisations to create new projects in the Baltic Sea Region. In an interview in the Amber Bridge Magazine Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov elaborates on a future more active Russian role in the area. One of the main CBSS…

“There is no doubt that a region as Pskov wants seriously to reach out, and there are indeed possibilities for entrepreneurs of the region to do business here. Still the context is not clear – the different Russian players do not seem to have reached a common stance”, was the impression said by BDF Director, Hans Brask, who – together with BDF Chairman…

This week the Russian Federal Assembly hosted the 21st conference of the Baltic Sea region Parliamentarians at the regional assembly of St. Petersburg in the beautiful Mariinsky Palace. The topic of the meeting was energy, ecology, and social welfare: cooperation for a sustainable development of the Baltic Sea region. Baltic Development Forum’s Director Hans Brask was invited as a speaker…

The interior ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland addressed the European Commission on Monday to draw attention to potential problems that may accompany a visa-free travel agreement between the EU and Russia, the Estonian national broadcasting corporation ERR reports referring to a press release from the Estonian Interior Ministry. The countries asked that the commission produce a proposal for…

With more than one month left before the 14th Baltic Development Forum Summit and the European Commission’s 3rd Annual Forum on the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, we have put together 7 plenary sessions, 12 parallel thematic sessions, and last but not least Networking and Project Village activities embracing a lot of presentations of both flagship projects and…

Published 02 May 2012 at Euractiv It is absolutely essential to have more coherent, structured, well-framed relations between the EU and Russia, said Thierry de Montbrial, founder and Director General of the French Institute for International Relations IFRI, in an exclusive with EurActiv, on the occasion of Putin’s coming inauguration on 7 May for a new mandate as president. De…

The Russian Federation takes over of the chairmanship of CBSS (Council of the Baltic Sea States) 1 July 2012 which gives both the Baltic Sea Region and the EU a real opportunity to synchronize efforts for tighter co-operation regarding future projects and for creating visible reinforcement of the organization. An interim report from Center of cross-border Interregional Cooperation, Saint-Petersburg branch of…

BDF wants to – and is fully able to – play an even stronger role in regional cooperation in 2012 making use of its think-tank activities, Summit meeting, thematic cooperation among stakeholders and matchmaking activities. Impressive progress has been achieved. That was demonstrated in the review of the EU strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (BSR), discussed at the BDF Summit…

Baltic Development Forum has become Lead Partner of an EU Project within the framework of the Northern Dimension Policy concerning energy and the Russian region Kaliningrad. The title of the Project is Energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions in Kaliningrad Oblast. Six partners are involved: Lappeenranta University of Technology/Northern Dimension Institute, Finland, the Municipality of Oskarshamn, Sweden / Union of…