Background information

Ministers responsible for spatial planning and development met in Gdansk in September 2005 for the 6th Ministerial meeting within the VASAB cooperation Visions and Strategies around the Baltic Sea. The joint declaration of the Ministerial meeting mandated VASAB, encouraged by the CBSS, to develop a “Long-term Perspective of Spatial Development” e.g. a common vision of long-term development of the region, in co-operation with all important regional stakeholders and Pan-Baltic organisations. VASAB was embarking on this challenging work already in 2006, therefore involved stakeholders in order to create a broad and inclusive process. Further, the Ministerial Declaration also instructed the VASAB Committee for Spatial Development to actively participate in the so called “Rotterdam process” to develop a territorial agenda for the EU. VASAB in this context was encouraged by the chair countries of the EU to facilitate an input from BSR stakeholders to the Rotterdam process.