Four new BDF Reports were presented at the Summit in Gdansk.  Here you can read more about their content and download the reports in pdf-format (at bottom of page). State of the Region Report 2011 “The Baltic Sea Region has come out of the first phase of the global economic and financial crisis better than most of its peers”. This…

The agenda of the General Affairs Council (GAC) meeting yesterday (15 November) included the adoption of Council conclusions on the review of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. Reference was made to the extensive debates on EUSBSR implementation as well as the review related consultations conducted within the framework of Polish Presidency of the Council. The Commission was…

As the last years’ State of the Region reports have shown, the global share of foreign direct investments (FDI) inflows that come to the Baltic Sea Region is falling, a process that is slowly eroding the Region’s share of global inward FDI stock and increasing the challenge of marketing the Region as an attractive FDI destination in an increasingly crowded…

At the occasion of his 70 years birthday tomorrow (Nov 1), “Mr. Baltic Sea” – former Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs Uffe Ellemann-Jensen – will step down as Chairman of the Baltic Development Forum, which he created 13 years ago, i.e. shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union. Together with his German counterpart Mr. Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Uffe Ellemann-Jensen was…

The 2011 Baltic Sea Award goes to Professor Arjen Hoekstra for his pioneering work on the water footprint concept. Mr. Hoekstra is both a university academic at the University of Twente and scientific director of the international NGO The Water Footprint Network, www.waterfootprint.org. In many respect the Baltic Sea is one of the most polluted waters in the world. This…

The BDF Secretariat has now left Copenhagen and arrived to Gdansk to make the preparations for the BDF Summit, that this year is organised together with the European Commission’s 2nd Annual Forum on the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region . At the conference venue a very large Exhibition tent had already been raised next to the Philharmonic main…

We are happy to announce that Siemens has joined the Baltic Development Forum Network as Strategic Partner. ”Siemens follows with interest the development of the new macro-region in the Baltic Sea Region, and we are pleased to work together with BDF in presenting new business opportunities and green solutions especially within the energy and water sectors” Jukka Pertola, Chief Executive…

We are witnessing an “up” in relations with Russia, writes Hans Brask in this BSR2011 Editorial. Quite exceptionally all Baltic Sea Region countries are enjoying positive relations with Russia simultaneously. However, there were also other tones to be heard at a recent Kaliningrad conference. And Russia’s plans to construct a nuclear power plant in Kaliningrad could develop into another Nord…

“The support and reinforcement of the EU’s growth agenda has to come from the regions in Northern Europe – like the Baltic Sea Region”, Hans Skov Christensen, vice chairman of the Baltic Development Forum (BDF), said at conference today in Szczecin, Poland. “It is obvious that a growth oriented agenda is needed”, he said. “We cannot wait until problems of…

With the 20 year anniversary of the Union of the Baltic Cities (UBC), UBC is holding its XI General Conference in Liepāja, Latvia, 4-7 October 2011. CEO of Siemens of Finland, Martti Kohtanen, will represent Baltic Development Forum during the anniversary General Conference and touch upon the issues and possibilities for cities in regards to addressing challenges within energy, climate,…