The politicians in the Nordic Council participate increasingly in co-operation with the Baltic Sea Region, which is fast becoming one of the strongest growth regions in Europe.

The Nordic countries had established a co-operation with the three Baltic States even before they regained their independence in the summer of 1991. The co-operation has entered into a new phase since the three countries became members of the EU in 2004, but there is still close contact with the Baltic Assembly.

The Nordic Council has strengthened its co-operation with Russian MPs, both regionally in Northwest Russia and centrally with the State Duma and the Federation Council in Moscow. The main aim is to tackle challenges, for example, the environment in the Baltic Sea and Barents regions, as well as in the Arctic.

In recent years the Nordic Council, together with the Baltic Assembly, has held round table discussions with Belarusian MPs and politicians from opposition parties who are not currently elected to parliament. Following the arrests which included candidates in the presidential election in Belarus in December 2010, official contacts with Belarus are, however, currently on ice.

Co-operation with the West Nordic Region and with the Nordic Region's neighbours to the west is an area of high priority in Nordic co-operation. The Nordic countries including Greenland also extend into the Arctic region. At one and the same time the most northerly areas have a totally unique nature and an extremely vulnerable environment in a time of rapid climate changes.

The Nordic Council's contact with German MPs is mainly through co-operation in the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference, BSPC, which has representatives from the German Bundestag in Berlin as well as MPs from the federal states in northern Germany. In 2001 and 2004 the Council and the German Bundestag jointly organised 'Nordische Tage' (Nordic Days) in Berlin.

The Nordic Council co-operates with Polish MPs through the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference, BSPC. Similarly, the Council has had a certain amount of contact with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Co-operation (PABSEC) and the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative (AII).  The Balkans have shown interest in learning from the positive Nordic experiences with regional co-operation.

The Nordic Council's Presidium is discussing community safety, and has followed the former Norwegian minister for both defence and foreign affairs, Thorvald Stoltenberg, who has presented a report to the Nordic foreign ministers on closer co-operation in foreign and security policy. The Council supports the conclusions of the report, which calls on the Nordic governments to follow up on these proposals.