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Parliamentary cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region dates back to
1991 when the then Speaker of the Finnish Parliament, Mr Kalevi
Sorsa, hosted the first Parliamentary Conference on the Baltic Sea.
Subsequent conferences were held in Oslo in 1992 and Warsaw in
1994. Since then, parliamentary conferences in the Baltic Sea
Region have taken place on an annual basis. At the Lübeck
Conference in 1998, it was decided that parliamentary cooperation
should be strengthened through the establishment of more formal
structures. Rules of Procedure and a new name – the Baltic
Sea Parliamentary Conference (BSPC) – were therefore adopted
in 1999. The BSPC's aim is to strengthen the common identity of the
Baltic Sea Region by means of close cooperation between national
and regional parliaments, initiate and guide political activities
in the Baltic Sea Region, promote cooperation, and act as a forum
for debate and exchange of information between parliaments and
other bodies and organizations on the international and
interregional level.
The role of the Standing Committee – the permanent
political body of the conference – is to make the presence of
parliamentary cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region felt beyond the
annual conference. The programme and agenda of the conference are
decided by the Standing Committee in consultation with the host
parliament. The result of the deliberations is documented in a
resolution approved by the conference. The Standing Committee
performs an executive function in monitoring the implementation of
the final resolutions and cultivating contacts to other major
international players in the region. The BSPC Secretariat is
located in the Secretariat of the Nordic Council in Copenhagen.