News

On 7 November in Stockholm, the Embassy of Lithuania in Sweden together with the Office of the Prime Minister of Sweden and the Representation of the European Commission organised a seminar “EU Baltic Sea Region Strategy: Approaching Vilnius Annual Forum”. The seminar took place just ahead of the Lithuanian EU Presidency’s Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region on 11 and 12 November in Vilnius.

Speakers at the event included the Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Vytautas Leškevičius, the Swedish State Secretary for EU Affairs Oscar Wåglund Söderström, the Director General of the Council of the Baltic Sea States Secretariat Jan Lundin, and Pierre Schellekens, Head of the European Commission’s Representation in Sweden. An analysis “Toward Cruising Speed? Assessing the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region” by the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies was carried out specifically for this event and presented at the seminar.

At the event, V.Leškevičius stressed that the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region was one of the key priorities for the Lithuanian EU Presidency as well as a successful example of an EU macro-regional strategy. The Lithuania Foreign Vice-Minister said that the following week the Vilnius Annual Forum would discuss ways to make this instrument even more efficient and results-oriented.

The Swedish State Secretary for EU Affairs State Secretary for EU Affairs underlined that the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region was introduced during the Swedish EU Presidency in 2009 and remained a high priority for this country. He also presented the Swedish Government’s report to the Parliament on the national implementation of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region.

The event brought together some 80 members of the Diplomatic Corps, the Swedish authorities and non-governmental institutions, and various experts.