Commissioners and heads of the Baltic Sea region’s leading companies in Riga!

Several European Commissioners and heads of the Baltic Sea region’s leading energy, finance, and transport companies have confirmed participation in the Baltic Sea Region Business Forum

On the 3rd and 4th of June this year, the Baltic Sea Region Business Forum is to take place in Riga, the capital city of Latvia, during which government and business leaders from 11 countries of the region, as well as experts from various sectors of the economy, will discuss economic topics of global significance and their potential effect on the Baltic Sea region and its individual countries.

Such an event is being organised for the first time by making full use of the opportunities provided by the fact that the heads of government and their accompanying delegations of all the countries in the region will be in Riga for the 7th Council of the Baltic Sea States’ Summit. For this reason the topics selected for this year’s forum are also directly related to the political and economic relations between countries and regions – special attention will be paid to issues concerning traditional and alternative energy resources, fluctuations in global financial markets and the challenges these create, as well as the future development of transport and logistics systems in the Baltic Sea region.

Participation in the Baltic Sea Region Business Forum and the willingness to share with experience and solutions for economic issues has been confirmed by a range of high-level experts and business leaders, including:

Mr Andris Piebalgs, Energy Commissioner of the EU;

Mr Valery Golubev, Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee of Gazprom OJSC, Russia;

Mr Mario Nullmeier, E.ON Representative in the Baltics;

Mr Hans Enocson, President & CEO for the Nordic Region, GE, Sweden;

Mr Paul Corcoran, Financial Director, Nord Stream AG, Germany/ Switzerland;

Mr Matti Hilli, Managing Director, Vapo Group, Finland;

Mr Jean Sacreste, CEO of Dalkia Russia and Baltic States, UK;

Mr Jan Liden, President & CEO of Swedbank, Sweden;

Mr Petr Aven, President of Alfa-Bank, Russia;

Mr Alisher Usmanov, Director-General of Gazprominvestkholding, Russia;

Mr Jean-François Gautier, Member of the Executive Committee of Société Générale Group, Managing Director of Specialised Financial Services, France;

Mr Thomas Dyrby, Vice President of Maersk Line, Denmark;

Mr Tapio Simos, Managing Director, Finnish Railways, Finland; and others.

The conference organisers anticipate that this event will become a platform for discussion and exchange of valuable opinions on the promotion of further strategic development in the region, enhancing its competitiveness globally, and ensuring the resolution of key regional economic development issues on a broader scale, rather than by each country individually.

The most important topics to be covered during the Baltic Sea Region Business Forum in early June include:

Energy issues in the Baltic Sea region, covering the use of traditional energy resources and the development of infrastructure, as well as opportunities for more extensive use of alternative and renewable resources;

Future challenges and perspectives for the Baltic Sea region in context of the global financial market – the effect of the global financial crisis on the Baltic region, issues related to the enlargement of the Eurozone, development perspectives of the Baltic Sea region as an important financial centre, and more;

Baltic Sea region competitiveness in context of global Eurasian transport corridors – Development opportunities for competitive multimodal services, freight transportation by sea and new overland transport corridors; future transport flows and distribution; trends in the freight container market; major development projects for the region’s seaports, airports, and freight terminals, as well as the development of logistics centres, and value added services.

On the morning of June 4th, participants at the Business Forum will be joined by all the government leaders of the region who have arrived in Latvia for the Summit of the Council of Baltic Sea States, sharing their own visions on the region’s general development.

The Baltic Sea Region Business Forum

BusinessmanTime.com / BTNews – Latvia

Mr. Marcis Skadmanis