Minister Valtonen to attend meeting of the Council of the Baltic Sea States in Estonia

Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen will attend the foreign ministers’ meeting of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) in Vihula, Estonia, on 15–16 May.

The meeting will discuss topical foreign and security policy issues in the Baltic Sea region. A report on the future of the CBSS will be published in connection with the meeting. The report was written by the rapporteurs of the CBSS, former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and former Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis.

“Cooperation between the CBSS countries is easy because we share more than geography, we share similar views on the region’s key security matters,” Minister Valtonen says.

Established in 1992, the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) is an intergovernmental forum for cooperation between the states in the Baltic Sea Region. The other members besides Finland are Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Sweden and the European Union. The priorities of the CBSS are regional identity, a sustainable and prosperous region and a safe and secure region. Cooperation with Russia was suspended following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia withdrew from the CBSS in May of the same year. Estonia will hold the CBSS Presidency until the end of July this year.