The Baltic Sea Region Is Ready for Meeting the Energy and Climate

Last year’s winner of Swedbank Baltic Sea Award President Tarja Halonen of Finland surrounded by Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden Carl Bildt, Swedbank CEO Jan Lidén and BDF Chairman Uffe Ellemann-Jensen Swedbank Baltic Sea Award In cooperation with Swedbank, Baltic Development Forum created the Swedbank Baltic Sea Award in 2007 in order to highlight and encourage extraordinary good deeds contributing to a positive development of the Baltic Sea Region. The award is given to an individual or organization that has made an extraordinary contribution to the development of the Baltic Sea Region. Apart of the honor, the award consists of €5,000.

In 2007 the Swedbank Baltic Sea Award was assigned to the Founder of Baltic Sea 2020 Björn Carlsson. In 2008 it was conferred to the President of Finland Tarja Halonen for her strong commitment for the Baltic Sea region.

– “The Baltic Sea Region needs fiery spirits, individuals who believe that they through a personal and lifelong commitment can make the region stronger, better and sustainable. President Halonen has a longstanding record of focusing on the common good for the Baltic Sea Region, often stressing the fact that we all live in a common region, with common assets, common problems, and common solutions”, said the CEO of Swedbank Jan Lidén upon handing over the award at the BDF Summit 2008 gala dinner in Malmö.

With Swedbank as our Summit Partner also this year, we are very happy to continue our cooperation on the award. The winner of the Swedbank Baltic Sea Award 2009 will be announced and receive the honour at the BDF Summit Gala Dinner in Stockholm on October 5th.

Baltic Development Forum has made an open Call for Nomination of candidates for the 2009 Award, which closed on September 11th, and received many proposals of distinguished candidates. Individuals or organizations from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden are eligible for the Award.

Award Criteria The Swedbank Baltic Sea Award is assigned to an individual or organization that fulfills one or several of the following criteria:  Made an extraordinary contribution to Baltic Sea Region development  Played a leading role or been a role model in the region’s economic development  Strengthened economic cooperation between the countries in the region  Developed new business concepts and research programmes  Capitalized on competitive advantages in the region in a new and innovative way  Made a contribution to the improvement of the regional challenges within climate, energy and environment  Linked innovators and local universities in the trade and industry  Concretely supported existing and growing regional clusters  Attracted and stimulated regional driving forces

Jury and Award Distribution As previous years, a jury consisting of Carl Eric Stålberg, Executive Chairman Swedbank AB and Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, Chairman of Baltic Development Forum, together with one Prime Minister of a Baltic Sea State appoints the 2009 winner. The winner will be announced and receive the Award at the BDF Summit Gala Dinner at Nordiska Museet in Stockholm on Monday 5 October 2009. In addition to the honorary element, the award consists of 5000 Euro.

More about the 2008 Award The President of Finland Tarja Halonen, who received the Swedbank Baltic Sea Award 2008, donated the money to support a Baltic Sea meeting for young people. The meeting was held on 10-11 September on Harakka Island in Helsinki. The participants were young people between the ages of 15 and 20 from Finland, Russia and Poland who turned their experiences of the Baltic Sea into art. The organizers of the event were the John Nurminen Foundation, the Harakka Nature Centre, the Environment Centre of the St. Petersburg water company (Vodokanal) and the Polish Embassy in Helsinki.

About us Baltic Development Forum is a network for high level decision makers from business, politics, academia and media in the Baltic Sea Region. It was founded in 1998, and is still lead, by the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark Uffe Ellemann-Jensen. Our mission is to initiate and facilitate processes to build a strong, prosperous and coherent Baltic Sea Region. The Baltic Development Forum Summit 2009 titled Boosting Top of Europe will be held in Stockholm on 5-6 October in association with the Swedish EU Presidency.