President Dalia Grybauskaitė gives this speech at the Baltic Sea States Summit in Vilnius on June 2.

We are nine countries sharing the Baltic Sea and our presence in the region is enhanced by Norway and Iceland. The expressed interests of our immediate neighbors, Southern European countries and the United States of America, are also represented in the Council of the Baltic Sea States by observer states. All of this clearly demonstrates that the Baltic Sea region is a real, important and dynamic force in Europe.

The European Union supports and promotes the region through the Baltic Sea Strategy, specially designed to encourage regional cooperation. It is but natural and also very pleasing that the Strategy was approved last year when one of our group, Sweden, held the EU presidency. Today, the governments of all the countries in the region, especially EU member states, bear the great responsibility for its implementation, engaging as widely as possible other members of the Baltic club, inviting next-door neighbors as observers and securing the support of their permanent and active partner — the European Commission.

I am convinced that the vision of the Baltic Sea region’s future is founded on faster and deeper integration.

To make such comprehensive integration a success, we must have relevant instruments.

First: energy interconnections. There is not a single country left in the region that is not involved in energy projects. Many have a well functioning electricity market. We are ready to build power bridges from Lithuania to Sweden and to Poland as well as from Estonia to Finland. Electricity grids are improved in Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. Investments are made into gas storage facilities and the development of wind energy. Liquefied gas terminals are either in the planning or production stages. Preparations are under way to construct a new nuclear power plant in Visaginas. All of these projects will attract investment to the region, ensure its competitiveness and promote the use of renewable energy sources.

Second: transport links. Neither inadequate rail networks nor the remoteness factor should impede the competitiveness of the Baltic Sea Region. In the coming ten years, we must create a proper infrastructure for building transport corridors in the north-south and east-west directions.

Third: human resources and personal contacts. I strongly believe that maintaining and supporting a network of relations between non-governmental organizations, businesses and the cultural community is of key importance for joint action in the Baltic Sea region. Special focus should be placed on collaboration between researchers. We have to turn international scientific initiatives, as yet separate, into the cornerstone of a knowledge and innovation community in the region.

Fourth: treating environmental protection as a universal priority value. It is only by complying very precisely with international environmental requirements that we will earn the confidence of our partners and investors and manage to recruit public support for the projects.

I have no doubt that by pooling our efforts we will create an economically prosperous and easily accessible Baltic Sea region, which is attractive to live in and to visit and which is safe and secure.

I wish that as we set the guidelines for the future of the Baltic Sea region, we never lose the political will and commitment to deliver our vision.

Dalia Grybauskaitė is the president of the Republic of Lithuania. Learn more about her administration here. This speech was given June 2 at the Baltic Sea States Summit in Vilnius.

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