CBSS Secretariat: 20th Anniversary

On October 23rd, we celebrate 20 years of the CBSS Secretariat here in Stockholm.

Always based in the old town we have grown from a small entrepreneurial unit based on the island of Strömsborg to a larger and established hub in the Baltic Sea Cooperation family. Our office currently sits facing the Baltic Sea at Slussplan. In our early days we had five professional staff and now we are just short of 30.

Setting up an international Secretariat for the Council of the Baltic Sea States was a pioneering project. Those days were different – the CBSS was only 6 years old and all cooperation was fledgling. The 90s was a new and exciting time politically for the Baltic Sea Region – Sweden and Finland had just joined the EU and the big bang of 2004 had not yet come to pass. Sweden hosted the first Baltic Sea States Summit in 1996, and out of an initiative at the Swedish Government Offices, it was a natural choice, backed by Foreign Minister Lena Hjelm-Wallén to host the new Secretariat in Stockholm.

Margot Wallström, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden sends her greetings on the occasion of the anniversary: “A unique and important organisation, the CBSS serves as a great example of regional cooperation. I am very happy to congratulate the CBSS Secretariat in Stockholm on its 20th birthday.”

Maira Mora, current Director General of the Secretariat notes that “I would like to thank the host country Sweden for generously providing premises and support to the Secretariat for all these 20 years. I would also like to praise the Secretariat staff, the expertise and devotion of whom has greatly contributed to the visibility of the CBSS and earned our organisation respect and reputation in the expert community both, inside and outside the Baltic Sea Region.”

Latvia is currently holding the presidency of the CBSS and our anniversary will be celebrated at the Latvian Embassy in Stockholm on 23 October.