Høybråten: Setbacks make Baltic partnership even more important
The Copenhagen summit was the 17th time that the Baltic Development Forum (BDF) has brought the countries together to discuss the challenges faced in the region. The Nordic Council of Ministers is one of BDF’s partners. Secretary General, Dagfinn Høybråten, sat on a panel discussing the future of the region around the Baltic.
He stressed that partnership is even more important when difficulties are encountered.
“At times when not everything is going well, it is important not to reduce the level of co-operation. Problems happen. The Council of Ministers had to close its offices in Russia, for example, but that is no reason to cut off ties. Quite the contrary. We need to work more closely together and in new ways, including with Russia.”
The Secretary General pointed out that Baltic co-operation has already proved its worth and that what is needed now is to find ways to improve it.
Sound economy
The conference discussed the “State of the Region Report”, an up-to-date economic prognosis, according to which the outlook is good, with the exception of certain countries – Russia, Finland and Norway.
Unemployment has fallen in the region as a whole, balance of payments deficits are lower than for many other countries and so are the national debts.
“As far as national debt is concerned, we are at the bottom of the range,” said Helge Pedersen, chief economist for Nordea, who presented the prognosis.
The region also faces multiple challenges, e.g. the situation in Ukraine, relations with Russia and the refugee crisis. Growth is not as strong as before the financial crisis, exports have levelled out and investment levels have fallen.
The conference agreed strongly that more is needed than just “business as usual”. The challenges faced require support for startups, a single digital market, openness to rapid changes in markets and competitiveness.
The resources are there. Jan Vapaavuori, Vice President of the European Investment Bank told the conference about Juncker's investment plan, which may lead to investments worth billions in the Baltic Sea Region.
“We don’t lack money, we lacks investments,” he said.
