Address by Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet to the 13th Baltic Council of Ministers
23 November 2007
Riga, Latvia
Honourable Mr. Chairman,
Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am very glad to be able to address you as the foreign minister of the state that will next preside over the Baltic Council of Ministers.
The Baltic Council of Ministers has, in the course of its 13 years of activities, been able to convincingly prove its capacity to help promote regional cooperation. And has, at the same time, demonstrated its ability to adjust to changing conditions, and thus, to reorganise its activities accordingly. I am referring to the fact that, after our three states became members of the European Union, a completely new environment began to dominate this region, which was taken into account in the 2003/2004 structural reform that realigned the BCM’s structure and activities with the prevailing conditions and the actual accompanying requirements.
Here, where we all reside, just as elsewhere in the world, cooperation between various regional organisations is becoming ever more essential. Several tasks that lie ahead of us require, for instance, cooperation with the Nordic countries within the NB8 format. In 2008, Estonia will also be the NB8 coordinator, and will, in this role as well, do its utmost for the rational development of regional cooperation in a manner that will take into maximum consideration the interests of all parties involved.
In addition to all this, I hope you share my opinion that the BCM should continue to maintain its contacts and consultative relations with other regional cooperative unions, such as the Visegrad Group and the Benelux.
And now, a few words about the priorities that have been formulated and established, for the year 2008, by the Committees of Senior Officials. In one of our most successful fields of mutual cooperation -- defence and security -- we regard, as being especially essential, progress that can be made concerning the policing of our air space after the year 2018. Ten years is, of course, a seemingly long time, but the solving of such a complicated matter, that is connected with very large investments, requires serious analysis. The other matter, in the defence and security realm, that needs to be dealt with promptly, is the preparing of Baltbat 2 for participation in the NATO Rapid Reaction Force, NRF-14. We also have to make joint decisions concerning the future of two cooperative institutions, which have already proven themselves by functioning quite efficiently -- namely, BALTDEFCOL, the Baltic Defence College, as well as the Baltic Naval Squadron, BALTRON.
From a security point of view, it is no less important how we will be able to solve our energy supply problems. In this respect, of primary importance is cooperation in developing a regional energy market, as well as in the sphere of ensuring the security of our energy infrastructure. The ensuring of the reliability and security of both the production and supplying of energy is a domain in which, today, large states also find it hard to cope, as do even unions of nations. Thus, it is more than obvious that we, three small states, cannot solve all of our energy problems just on our own. Therefore, it is of primary significance that we be able to arrive at a consensus concerning energy policy positions, as well as be able to achieve agreements with neighbouring countries that would enable the affiliating of the Baltic region’s energy grids with Europe’s power energy system.
Questions concerning energy are closely connected with the protection of the environment, especially, that of the Baltic Sea, where, with HELCOM, the Helsinki Commission, or, in other words, the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, taking the lead, there has been active cooperation between the Baltic coast countries for years already. But, as the latest studies show, the work that has been done up till now has not been enough. As we know, even the Baltic Sea Agenda till 2021, that was ratified last week in Krakow, became the object of severe criticism by the Worldwide Fund for Nature. Special attention was focused upon the problems that are associated with the ever-increasing transport of oil and oil products, as well as of shipping generally, in the Baltic Sea. These are matters that must be dealt with in a persistent and coordinated manner by all Baltic Sea countries, and in the solution of which, the CBSS, the Council of the Baltic Sea States, has an essential role to play, as does the European Union's Baltic Sea strategy, which is just being formulated.
Now, that we, the Baltic states, are in the process of joining the Schengen space, we must continue to increase and improve cooperation between the institutions dealing with internal matters. The joining process, which will begin in less than a month, during Latvia's presidency of the BCM, will be completed by 29 March 2008, during Estonia's presidency. Integrating into the Schengen space will, among other things, mean that we will have to actively participate in the development of the Schengen Information System, SIS II.
I stressed before how essential it is that the power grids of the Baltic states be joined up with the common EU system. Of no less importance to the economies of our states is the continued development of both Via Baltica and Rail Baltica, which would ensure, for our highway and railroad transport, a connection with Central and Western Europe that corresponds to contemporary standards and requirements. And, just as in the energy realm, the solving of our transport problems does not depend on just us ourselves, but also, to a great extent, on our ability to persuade our partners to increase their cooperative endeavours with us.
In addition to these general priorities, Estonia wishes to draw attention to two very specific and vital matters that are of concern to not only us, the Baltic states, but also to the whole of Europe and the world at large. These are:
A common Baltic energy strategy policy, meaning, the noticeable increasing of -- the reliability of energy production and supply, energy efficiency, energy saving.
Cooperation in the fight against cyber crime, and in the securing of the information technology space.In conclusion, I would like to thank our Latvian colleagues for the excellent job that they did during their presidency. As well as, to promise you, that Estonia will do its utmost, in cooperation with its Latvian and Lithuanian colleagues, to ensure that all formulated plans and activities that are called for in next year’s BCM work plan, will bear fruit that we can all, jointly, be proud of.
I thank you!
Riga, Latvia
Honourable Mr. Chairman,
Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am very glad to be able to address you as the foreign minister of the state that will next preside over the Baltic Council of Ministers.
The Baltic Council of Ministers has, in the course of its 13 years of activities, been able to convincingly prove its capacity to help promote regional cooperation. And has, at the same time, demonstrated its ability to adjust to changing conditions, and thus, to reorganise its activities accordingly. I am referring to the fact that, after our three states became members of the European Union, a completely new environment began to dominate this region, which was taken into account in the 2003/2004 structural reform that realigned the BCM’s structure and activities with the prevailing conditions and the actual accompanying requirements.
Here, where we all reside, just as elsewhere in the world, cooperation between various regional organisations is becoming ever more essential. Several tasks that lie ahead of us require, for instance, cooperation with the Nordic countries within the NB8 format. In 2008, Estonia will also be the NB8 coordinator, and will, in this role as well, do its utmost for the rational development of regional cooperation in a manner that will take into maximum consideration the interests of all parties involved.
In addition to all this, I hope you share my opinion that the BCM should continue to maintain its contacts and consultative relations with other regional cooperative unions, such as the Visegrad Group and the Benelux.
And now, a few words about the priorities that have been formulated and established, for the year 2008, by the Committees of Senior Officials. In one of our most successful fields of mutual cooperation -- defence and security -- we regard, as being especially essential, progress that can be made concerning the policing of our air space after the year 2018. Ten years is, of course, a seemingly long time, but the solving of such a complicated matter, that is connected with very large investments, requires serious analysis. The other matter, in the defence and security realm, that needs to be dealt with promptly, is the preparing of Baltbat 2 for participation in the NATO Rapid Reaction Force, NRF-14. We also have to make joint decisions concerning the future of two cooperative institutions, which have already proven themselves by functioning quite efficiently -- namely, BALTDEFCOL, the Baltic Defence College, as well as the Baltic Naval Squadron, BALTRON.
From a security point of view, it is no less important how we will be able to solve our energy supply problems. In this respect, of primary importance is cooperation in developing a regional energy market, as well as in the sphere of ensuring the security of our energy infrastructure. The ensuring of the reliability and security of both the production and supplying of energy is a domain in which, today, large states also find it hard to cope, as do even unions of nations. Thus, it is more than obvious that we, three small states, cannot solve all of our energy problems just on our own. Therefore, it is of primary significance that we be able to arrive at a consensus concerning energy policy positions, as well as be able to achieve agreements with neighbouring countries that would enable the affiliating of the Baltic region’s energy grids with Europe’s power energy system.
Questions concerning energy are closely connected with the protection of the environment, especially, that of the Baltic Sea, where, with HELCOM, the Helsinki Commission, or, in other words, the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, taking the lead, there has been active cooperation between the Baltic coast countries for years already. But, as the latest studies show, the work that has been done up till now has not been enough. As we know, even the Baltic Sea Agenda till 2021, that was ratified last week in Krakow, became the object of severe criticism by the Worldwide Fund for Nature. Special attention was focused upon the problems that are associated with the ever-increasing transport of oil and oil products, as well as of shipping generally, in the Baltic Sea. These are matters that must be dealt with in a persistent and coordinated manner by all Baltic Sea countries, and in the solution of which, the CBSS, the Council of the Baltic Sea States, has an essential role to play, as does the European Union's Baltic Sea strategy, which is just being formulated.
Now, that we, the Baltic states, are in the process of joining the Schengen space, we must continue to increase and improve cooperation between the institutions dealing with internal matters. The joining process, which will begin in less than a month, during Latvia's presidency of the BCM, will be completed by 29 March 2008, during Estonia's presidency. Integrating into the Schengen space will, among other things, mean that we will have to actively participate in the development of the Schengen Information System, SIS II.
I stressed before how essential it is that the power grids of the Baltic states be joined up with the common EU system. Of no less importance to the economies of our states is the continued development of both Via Baltica and Rail Baltica, which would ensure, for our highway and railroad transport, a connection with Central and Western Europe that corresponds to contemporary standards and requirements. And, just as in the energy realm, the solving of our transport problems does not depend on just us ourselves, but also, to a great extent, on our ability to persuade our partners to increase their cooperative endeavours with us.
In addition to these general priorities, Estonia wishes to draw attention to two very specific and vital matters that are of concern to not only us, the Baltic states, but also to the whole of Europe and the world at large. These are:
A common Baltic energy strategy policy, meaning, the noticeable increasing of -- the reliability of energy production and supply, energy efficiency, energy saving.
Cooperation in the fight against cyber crime, and in the securing of the information technology space.In conclusion, I would like to thank our Latvian colleagues for the excellent job that they did during their presidency. As well as, to promise you, that Estonia will do its utmost, in cooperation with its Latvian and Lithuanian colleagues, to ensure that all formulated plans and activities that are called for in next year’s BCM work plan, will bear fruit that we can all, jointly, be proud of.
I thank you!
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