News

On 17 June, a meeting of diplomats from Lithuania and other Member States and observers of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS), who reside in Vilnius, took place at Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Undersecretary of Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Žygimantas Pavilionis and head of the Secretariat of Lithuanian Presidency of the CBSS Neris Germanas presented priorities for the Lithuanian Presidency of the CBSS.

Participants of the meeting agreed that priorities chosen by the Lithuanian Presidency – innovations, cross-border cooperation, clean environment and safe life conditions - were especially important for the protection of the ecosystem of the Baltic Sea, sustainable development of the region, enhancement of economic competitiveness, improvement of the quality of life for people and to get to know each other better.

Representatives from the newly admitted observer countries - Belarus, Spain and Romania - were glad that henceforth they would have an opportunity to cooperate in the region of the Baltic Sea more actively.

Participants of the meeting agreed about what was now most important to search, how CBSS could contribute effectively to the implementation of the strategy of the European Union in the region of the Baltic Sea.

Lithuania will hold the Presidency of the CBSS from 1 July of this year until 30 June 2010.

There are 11 states among the members of the CBSS - Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden - and the European Commission. These countries have observer status: Belarus, France, the Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Ukraine and the U.S.A.

For more information about the Lithuanian Presidency of the CBSS please look up here.