VILNIUS, 2 June 2010 – At today's Baltic Development Forum Summit, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip stressed the importance of creating a common digital market. According to the Prime Minister, this would create new opportunities for the region’s enterprises and make the lives of its inhabitants easier.

Ansip stated that the region’s competitiveness and attractiveness primarily depend on co-operation between the Baltic Sea region states in areas where they already possess some developmental advantages.

“The creation of a common digital market to enable the free movement of services provided by both the public and private sectors would contribute to the development of the region. It would be advantageous for the region if, for example, a Swedish businessman could electronically set up a company in Latvia, or a Finnish tourist could use the mobile parking service in Tallinn. We could have an electronic procurement system that would be open to all enterprises in the region,” said Prime Minister Ansip. He also emphasised that we should act as quickly as possible to overcome any obstacles that prevent us from implementing innovative solutions.

“Common rules for electronic identification will open up new opportunities for our entrepreneurs and will make our people’s lives simpler,” emphasised Prime Minister Ansip.

Ansip also referred to the joint letter prepared by four prime ministers at Estonia’s initiative and sent to all the heads of government in the European Union. The letter called for the advancement of a common digital market that encompasses the entire EU.

The Baltic Development Forum (BDF) was established in 1998 at the initiative of Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, a former Danish Minister for Foreign Affairs. The goal of the organisation is to map the co-operation related to the development of the Baltic Sea region and to work on outlining the regional strategy in partnership with the European Commission. The primary objective of the organisation is to promote economic growth, integration, and competitiveness in the Baltic Sea region and to include participants from various fields in the process.

In addition to competitiveness and innovation, the central themes of this year’s Development Forum Summit include sustainable development and environmental issues related to the Baltic Sea.

The next Baltic Development Forum Summit will take place in October 2011 in Poland.

Photos from the summit are available at: http://www.valitsus.ee/index.p...

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