The financial crisis has hit many of the countries around the Baltic Sea hard. The Baltic Development Forum (BDF) 2010 focuses on how regional co-operation can help to solve Europe's challenges. Nordic co-operation is good example.
"Our Nordic experience shows that regional co-operation and political leadership can be strengths in small countries," says Halldór Ásgrímsson.
"Our Nordic experience shows that regional co-operation and political leadership can be strengths in small countries. For small countries, like the Nordic countries, regional co-operation can contribute to increase global competitiveness, for example, through more integrated markets, resource sharing, exchange of experience and international co-operation," says Halldór Ásgrímsson, Secretary General of the Nordic Council of Ministers, before the Baltic Development Forum which is taking place in Lithuania's capital Vilnius 1 -2 June.
The theme for this year's BDF is: "European challenges - regional solutions: an agenda for jobs, investments and sustainable growth". The forum brings together ministers, politicians and business leaders from the Baltic Sea Region. The Nordic Council of Ministers is a strategic partner in BDF.
Ásgrímsson will take part in a workshop on the State of the Region Report, published at the BDF. It shows that the Baltic Sea economies are more influenced by the global economy than other EU and OECD countries.
"I think that the report makes an important point that the greatest threat is not competition from other parts of the global economy but a lack of will to change things at home. In times of crisis it is clear that those who have the skills to adjust and adapt are those who cope best," says Hálldor Ásgrímsson. The State of the Region Report is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Nordic Investment Bank.
The Nordic Council of Ministers will have a stand at BDF on 1 - 2 June. Finland's prime minister, Matti Vanhanen, and the former foreign minister of Denmark and current head of BDF, Uffe Ellemann Jensen, will be interviewed on Wednesday 2 June.
Nordic commitment to higher education in Belarus will also be an important part of the stand. What is it like to be a Belarusian exile student at the Belarusian university in exile, European Humanities University (EHU) in Vilnius? Why does the EHU need donations and support from the international community? You can get answers to these questions at the Nordic Council of Ministers' stand on Tuesday 1 June at 11.30 when one of the students at EHU and Dan Davidson from EHU's board will be interviewed.
The Danish minister for foreign affairs, Lene Espersen, is expected to visit the Nordic Council of Ministers' stand during BDF. Denmark holds the Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2010.