The “Baltic Sea Conference 2013 – Blue Growth, Sustainability and Water Industries”, held in Copenhagen on 3 October 2013, brought together high-level participants from the European Commission and Danish government, and actors from throughout the Baltic Sea Region – from different sectors and levels of decision making – in order to chart the way forward for an environmentally sound and…

The 2013 Political State of the Region Report “Trends and Directions in the Baltic Sea Region” is a fresh take on answering amongst other things the question of: In what state is the Baltic Sea region (BSR) in 2013? What are the current challenges and opportunities? What are the current priorities of its countries? How has the EU Strategy for…

Lithuania has taken over the EU presidency from 1 July and is the first Baltic State country to take over this important task. You can read more about the presidency here.  With the priorities and objectives like “Credible Europe”, “Growing Europe” and “Open Europe” Lithuania is setting a strong agenda for the upcoming autumn. Not only financial growth, but also…

The implementing actors of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region were gathered at the 4th Working Meeting for the Strategy, 10-11 April 2013 in Espoo, Finland, organised by INTERACT Point Turku and the European Commission, DG Regio. BDF was invited as Horisontal Action Leader for the Strategy area “HA Promo” (development of regional identity and branding), a role…

How can BDF’s activities in 2013 contribute to the overall objective of BDF in making the BSR the most dynamic and, innovative centre of economic growth in the World? The board of Baltic Development Forum (BDF) met end February 2013 and adopted BDF’s strategy and priorities for 2013. They offer BDF the ability to stay in close contact with different…

“In the continuing work for a cleaner Baltic Sea it is not enough that local, regional and national authorities act. Therefore I urge private players to take part by developing solutions and suggestions witch in the long run can lead to a cleaner Baltic Sea,” says Ida Auken, Danish Minister for the Environment as a call for a fruitful dialogue on the…

The council has endorsed the revised Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region and thereby given the green light to a long row of very important issues for the regional cooperation work. For instant it has agreed to the objective “Save the Sea”, supporting the various efforts to obtain good environmental status of and biodiversity in the sea. Agreed to the objective…

One of the founding fathers of the Baltic Sea Strategy, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, President of Estonia, in an exclusive interview with BDF, is calling for more integration to match the protectionist tendencies in the European Union. “The countries around the Baltic rim are willing to do it, and I think it will make life better for the citizen and decrease…

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…

The 13th Baltic Development Forum Summit and the European Commission’s 2nd Annual Forum on the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region was held in Gdansk, Poland, 24-26 October under the title “New Ambitions for the Baltic Sea Region”. This year’s conference gathered ca. 750 participants, during which 126 questionnaires were conducted with our participants – representing approximately 17% of…