The overriding economic crisis in Europe was in focus when the prime ministers from all the Nordic countries met with their Baltic colleagues on Monday.

At the press conference after the meeting the Finnish prime minister, Jyrki Katainen, underlined that the Nordic and Baltic Region is well positioned to meet the current economic challenges:

"We are a region of good performers when it comes to economic matters, and we are all in the same boat, no matter which currency we use. But we must also all work hard to maintain this position - especially if we are to continue to attract investment to the region", says Finland's prime minister. Finland holds the Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2011.

Denmark's prime minister, Helle Thorning Schmidt, took the opportunity of her first joint meeting with her Nordic and Baltic colleagues to inform them of the priorities of the upcoming Danish EU Presidency. The European debt crisis played a key role here too:

"We are very focused on the challenges brought about by the debt crisis and are concerned with consolidating the economies and keeping the member states together, so we act as 27 member states", said Helle Thorning Schmidt.

The Danish prime minister also took the opportunity to stress how the importance of Nordic and Nordic-Baltic co-operation:

"We are deeply committed to both Nordic co-operation and Baltic co-operation. The more we talk to each other, the better it will be. Nordic co-operation is an extremely useful collaboration. I am therefore extremely happy that this is my first joint meeting. There is no doubt that the new Danish government will place very high priority on Nordic co-operation", said Helle Thorning Schmidt.

Foreign policy issues including Libya, Syria and Palestine were also discussed at the summit meeting of the heads of government.

Video: Press conference part 1

Video: Press conference part 2

Jesper F. Schou-Knudsen
Phone +45 33 96 03 55
Email jsk@norden.org