Statement by Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja at the Conference on the Northern Dimension in Luxembourg

Luxembourg, 21 October, 2002


We would like to extend our thanks to Denmark and the EU Commission for prepearing the guidelines for the new Action Plan of the Northern Dimension. We appreciate this opportunity to express our views on the guidelines at a ministerial level meeting together with the Member States and the partner countries. The guidelines paper is a very good base for our future work.

Finland supports the idea that the European Council in December will invite the Commission to draft the new Action Plan for the years 2004-2006. Also this work should be done in close cooperation with all the Member States and the partners.

The Commission should play a leading and coordinating role in the Northern Dimension policies. At the same time we need stronger engagement of the different actors. The advancement of the goals of the Northern Dimension policies requires constructive dialogue, action in several sectors, and coordination of policies in the Commission as well as in the administrations of the Member States.

The guidelines include all the central building blocks for the new Action Plan. The approach is broad and horizontal. The Action Plan should be comprehensive with emphasis on some specific areas. We have to continue the work based on the major achievements. At the same time other ideas need to be developed into concrete action.

The projects of the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership (NDEP) have to get started. We hope that more countries will support the Fund established last July.

In the ICT sector the implementation of the Northern eDimension Action Plan (NeDAP) is advancing well on six of the seven action lines. We are optimistic that this work will continue and lead to concrete projects.

The serious social and health problems in the area require concerted joint actions. Therefore it is important to consider the establishment of a Northern Dimension partnership to reinforce collaboration of countries and all other actors in this field.

Multisectoral cross-border cooperation across the EU’s new border with Russia should be made a priority for the new Action Plan, as was already discussed at the meeting in Greenland. One of our important tasks is to prepare the ground for private sector investments by removing local barriers to trade and investment and improving border crossing.

Central targets are cooperation and co-financing between the International Financial Institutions, private investors and public programmes.

We have to be open-minded and see how we can proceed in the best possible way to find an effective coordination between the different mechanisms and structures of the EU. We have to address also the questions of funding regarding the cross-border and regional cooperation.

I believe that the enlargement of the EU will lead to a deeper impact of Northern Dimension policy aspects in the Union's internal policy, and its policy on the Russian Federation.

The involvement of the relevant regional bodies is essential, and i.a. the expertise of the CBSS (Council of the Baltic Sea States) is valuable in contributing to the implementation of agreed policies, and by setting up priorities for the region. As Finland chairs the CBSS 2002-2003 I would like to underline the preparedness of this regional body to contribute to the preparation of the new Action Plan. The CBSS as a co-operation structure comprises all the Northern Dimension partner countries. In the framework of the regional co-operation we have already many on-going activities.

I would once more like to thank the Danish EU Presidency for convening this conference. We look forward to work with all the Member States, candicate countries and other partners to transform the guidelines into a new Action Plan next year.
























pohjoinen ulottuvuus