The fourth annual Baltic Development Forum Summit
Copenhagen 13-15 October 2002

Plenary Session:
Key priorities to make the Baltic Sea Region a vibrant commercial, cultural and scientific growth centre by 2005

Address by Ms. Elsbeth Tronstad,
State Secretary, Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Mr. Chairman,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am very pleased to be here today and to participate in this Baltic Development Forum Summit. It gives me a good opportunity to present some of Norway’s thoughts on the future development of the Baltic Sea region. I would also like to commend the organizers on the very relevant and pertinent issues on the agenda for this Summit and on the excellent arrangements they have made.

Our approach to the Baltic Sea Cooperation is one of political support and substantive participation. We are very much in favour of the comprehensive nature of the Baltic Sea cooperation, but we have found it most effective to focus our efforts on certain sectors, for example health, nuclear safety and energy.

I would now like to say something about the areas that have been identified as keys to the future development of the Baltic Sea Region.

A stable and predictable investment climate is essential for sound business relations and healthy trade. The potential for increased trade and investment in our region is considerable. But in order to tap that potential, a transparent and predictable business environment is a fundamental requirement. This is the key to the further involvement of the private sector. The approximation of rules and procedures to those of the EU/EEA and the WTO will open up new opportunities for trade and create a more business-friendly environment. Secure living conditions, too, will be a key factor in promoting investment.

Health is an aspect of this. The health of our neighbours is not only their concern, but also ours. Unless we do better in this area, many of our other efforts may fail. Health issues are vital for the development of a society and for social cohesion. The deteriorating health situation and rapid spread of communicable diseases, particularly HIV and tuberculosis, in the eastern part of the Baltic Sea Region is becoming a serious obstacle to cooperation and development.

Turning to energy-related issues, I would like to make the observation that energy cooperation has developed in a very positive direction since its inception at the Heads of Government meeting in Riga in 1998. Our aim must be to promote sustainable energy use that takes into account environmental concerns within the framework of more integrated and deregulated energy markets in the region. Governments and industry play different roles in promoting such a development. Governments are responsible for creating optimal frameworks at the national and international level. Industry – private and public – has to do the job.

In St. Petersburg, the Heads of Government acknowledged that in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the international level, an internationally binding system is absolutely necessary. And that making the Baltic Sea Region a testing ground for implementing Kyoto Protocol measures should be a first step.

This brings me to the issue of the environment. The environmental situation in the Baltic Sea Region and northwestern Russia is creating widespread concern well beyond the borders of the countries concerned. Norway welcomes the establishment of the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership Support Fund. The NDEP will allow us to jointly attack environmental problems, including nuclear problems, in this area.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Sustainable development depends on stability and security in a society where freedom of action is combined with a sense of responsibility. This applies to both the private and public sector. The Baltic Sea Region has been in a process of transformation for the last 10 years. It is, as many would agree, a very dynamic region. But I see a great challenge here. How to keep the locomotive of change on the right track? We need transformation and we need freedom: freedom to promote democracy, to create jobs and better living conditions for people, to take better care of the environment and to achieve many more of the worthy goals we are so confidently aiming for. But as with so many things in life, there is also a bad side. Transformation has also led to more corruption, more organized crime, more abuse of power, greater environmental problems, grave social problems, increased sex trade, child abuse and other evils.

These are serious threats to democracy and to the whole community of Baltic Sea nations. We must attack them with a variety of joint measures in the years to come.

However, some progress has been made. The Commissioner for Democratic Development and the Baltic Sea Task Force on Organized Crime are to be commended for their efforts. Nevertheless we are still facing formidable challenges. We must intensify our efforts to combat trafficking in women and to deal effectively with the evils of corruption, and we must face the fact that racism and xenophobia are present in our societies, both west and east of the Baltic Sea. We must do all we can to combat this.

All our actions must be based on the rule of law, respect for fundamental human rights, transparent democratic governance, and respect for the environment. These are fundamental values that must be maintained, consolidated and continuously reinforced. There is no alternative. If we make this our code of conduct, the Baltic Sea Region will be a better place to live in for everyone in 2005.

Thank you for your attention.