On 17 November 2010 the Committee of Senior Officials of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) “accepted placing VASAB under the CBSS umbrella”. The CBSS decision concluded a process of re-defining cooperation framework between the CBSS and VASAB, initiated by the CBSS Elsinore Declaration of 4 June 2009 and appreciated by the VASAB Vilnius Declaration of 16 October 2009.

The CBSS decision would mean VASAB being a network closely connected to the CBSS. In order to achieve more synergies between the two organisations VASAB will regularly exchange information with the CBSS and its family members. For example, a CBSS representative will be invited to participate in all CSPD/BSR meetings. Nevertheless, VASAB will remain independent in terms of the budgeting, reporting and having a secretariat.
The CBSS is an overall political forum for regional inter-governmental cooperation. The Members of the Council are the eleven states of the Baltic Sea Region as well as the European Commission. The states are Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden and a representative from the European Commission.
The Council consists of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs from each Member State and a member of the European Commission. The role of the Council is to serve as a forum for guidance and overall coordination among the participating states. The foreign minister of the presiding country is responsible for coordinating the Council’s activities and is assisted in this work by the Committee of Senior Officials (CSO).
For many years VASAB has been the strategic partner of the CBSS.