Speech by President of the Republic Tarja Halonen at the Baltic Development Forum Summit in Helsinki on 29 October 2006

It is a great pleasure for me to address this year’s summit of the Baltic Development Forum. All the countries on the shores of the Baltic Sea have a common interest in promoting regional development. We must work together to build the Baltic area into a strong regional growth centre, which is capable to benefit from globalisation.

It is better to say openly that I believe strongly in the Nordic model, which combines the dynamism of the market economy with a strong emphasis on human resources, particularly on education and research but also on social well-being. Combining the private and public sectors in research makes it possible to apply the results in practice more quickly than before. Social security makes it easier to adjust to changes at both the social and individual level. It is interesting to note that several international surveys examining competitiveness and sustainable development have given all five Nordic countries top marks. New partners have become active in the Baltic region and this has resulted in some competition between different ways of thinking but also increased diversity in cooperation models.

One of the most important initiatives launched to intensify regional cooperation was the Council of Baltic Sea States. Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, then foreign minister of Denmark, played a major role in the setting-up of the Council and he has played an important role in the establishment of the Baltic Development Forum, too.

Contacts between people are the strength of all cooperation forms. It is important that people have means to stay in regular touch with each other also between meetings. A coherent view about all different cooperation opportunities would help us to see the full potential of the region. Using the latest technology, it is possible to collect information about a large number of joint undertakings and funding opportunities in the Baltic area and northern regions. I wonder whether all this relevant information could be made accessible through one single Internet portal. I believe that this would provide a basis for new and open-minded forms of cooperation and would activate the existing ones. I leave this idea of a single portal for further thought to anyone who might want to apply it in practice.

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The focus of the Baltic Development Forum is on competition-related matters. As the Baltic region cannot compete in terms of labour costs, our success in the global market must derive from skills and expertise. In order to become more competitive, we must invest in particular in research and development and also in human resources. Furthermore, such investments must be transformed into competitive services and consumer goods. This can only become a reality if the Baltic region has world-class companies and a well-functioning public sector. The ultimate aim should be the well-being of our citizens, which includes a clean living environment. Achieving this aim is easier in stable and prosperous societies that are founded on social justice.

The question of the state of the Baltic Sea has been central to regional cooperation for many decades. The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, also known as HELCOM, has for three decades produced facts about the state of the Baltic Sea. Even though people are becoming increasingly aware of the issues involved, changes are slow. Unfortunately, it must be said that the state of the Baltic Sea is not very good. The aim of HELCOM is to produce an action plan for improving the state of the sea and the document should be ready by autumn next year. I hope that we will all join forces so that we can tackle the matter with a stronger determination.

The Northern Dimension will be one of the themes of this summit. The policy was launched to increase awareness of issues specific to northern parts of Europe within the whole European Union. This meant both challenges and opportunities. The policy, which was originally an EU initiative, has since gained new strength and has now been formulated into a common policy of the Union and its northern partners, Russia, Norway and Iceland.

Under the Northern Dimension policy concrete results have already been achieved in the fields of public health, social well-being and environmental matters. Last year, I had the pleasure to attend the inauguration of the south-western wastewater treatment plant in St Petersburg together with Russia’s President Putin, Governor Matvienko and the then Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson. This plant is so far the most important achievement of the Northern Dimension environmental partnership. I am keenly awaiting the new ideas resulting from our environmental cooperation.

Economic activity and expanding trade increases the amount of goods carried, particularly the volume of maritime transport. This also means greater risks. In this respect, it is very good that a tripartite system for monitoring maritime traffic in the Gulf of Finland has been put in place in cooperation between Finland, Russia and Estonia.

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Relations between the EU and Russia are being discussed in many forums this autumn. We can be satisfied with the recent meeting between the Russian and Union leaders in Lahti. The EU proved able to present a common line on energy issues and we are happy that Germany, the next holder of the EU Presidency, is committed to taking the energy agenda forward.

When we talk about the future of Europe, we cannot ignore the issue of energy. It is good that the EU is working to reach a common stand on energy matters. The Union has to deal with the challenges of safeguarding its energy supplies, a continuous rise in energy prices, and issues related to climate change. Building mutual trust with the most important third countries, especially Russia, is crucial for ensuring a secure energy supply for the Union. In this context, I would like to add that Finland has nothing against the planned Baltic gas pipeline as such. Naturally, we have stressed the necessity to take proper account of environmental aspects.

Though current energy resources may seem huge to our generation, they are nevertheless limited. We have to accept this and work together, also at the regional level, to combat climate change by reducing emissions, saving energy, developing cleaner technologies and promoting the use of renewable energy resources.

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I am optimistic about the future of cooperation in the Baltic area. No doubt we have many challenges to tackle. I have mainly talked about the economic and environmental challenges but also health threats and communicable diseases require cross-border cooperation. Together with environmental matters and climate change, they are among the new security threats that we must address. It is very good that public health and social well-being have been defined as focus areas in the Northern Dimension and within cooperation in the Baltic area.

Our cooperation can be even stronger if we also become more aware of our different cultures. When you are familiar with other people’s habits and backgrounds, it is much easier to work together. I believe that cooperation in the Baltic region should also include a strong cultural dimension. One way of enhancing this dimension could be a creation of a Baltic Cultural Forum - for example in cooperation with all regional actors.

I wish all the success to this summit.