Helsinki, 29 October 2012 – The financial crisis emerged as the main topic at the meeting of the prime ministers of the Baltic and Nordic countries today. The ministers said that a number of important decisions have been made at the European level for resolving the financial crisis, but noted that it was important to simultaneously engage in closer cooperation at the regional level.
According to the ministers, Baltic and Nordic cooperation is particularly important during a financial crisis, as the region’s countries have a different status at the European Union level. NB8’s members include EU member states, Eurozone members as well as countries that are members of neither bloc.
\"Making cooperation closer in the euro area is not an alternative to regional cooperation, which has been effective. Both are important,\" said Prime Minister Andrus Ansip at the meeting. The head of government said the last European Council took a small step closer to make it easier to engage countries from outside the Eurozone as well. \"Regional cooperation in a crisis is very important. We share largely the same interests and views and to a great extent we also depend on one another,” said Ansip at the meeting.
In discussing energy topics, the ministers said connections between countries are important. The head of government said in his remarks that he was pleased that the Baltic States would soon no longer be energy islands. \"For us, the diversity of connections is a matter of energy security, which makes it important that the energy portfolio be expanded,\" said Ansip, citing the Estlink 2 cable under construction and Lithuania’s planned connections with Sweden and Poland.
On the topic of the possible LNG terminal, Ansip said that Estonia’s priorities were reliability of supply and the lowest possible price of gas. Thus, he said, Estonia supports a host country that will provide assurance on both of those two factors.
\"In selecting the location, we accept the findings of the European Commission report soon to be released. If the analysis says the best location is Finland, we will support it, but if proves to be Estonia, for example, we would be happy to start developing it,” said Ansip. In addition, Ansip called on his colleagues to support the Connecting Europe Facility, which would provide potential funding for the construction of the LNG terminal, among other things.
The meeting also addressed regional cooperation and foreign policy issues. In discussing cooperation, the ministers said the Baltic and Nordic region should engage in closer cooperation in resolving emergencies.
Participants at the meeting were Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis and Icelandic Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir. Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was substituted for by his Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide. The Lithuanian prime minister was substituted for by the Economic Affairs Minister Rimantas Žylius. Lithuania holds the presidency of this cooperation format in 2012.
The meeting of Nordic and Baltic ministers is a regional cooperation format, which takes place without a separate structure or organization. The most important forms of the cooperation at the political level are annual meetings of prime ministers and foreign ministers. The last meeting took place in Copenhagen in October 2011.
For photographs of the meeting, visit http://valitsus.ee/et/uudised/pildialbum#2486-1