Baltic Sea Common Information Space - paving way for successful regional integration

(Exclusive Interview with Mr. Alexey IGNATIEV, Director Regional & Transfrontier Cooperation Program Russia, East-West Institute, President of the Association of International Experts on the Development of Kaliningrad Region)

 INTRODUCTION: The idea of the Baltic Sea Common Information Space (BCIS) appeared in the framework of the Baltic Sea Initiative 2010 (BSI 2010) in November 2004. The BSI 2010 aimed at creating a platform for developing a bottom-up stakeholder-driven action agenda for regional cooperation in the Baltic Sea Area. The CBSS Secretariat was invited to take the lead, assisted by the CBSS Business Advisory Council and VINNOVA (Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems), to serve as a focal point for activities of the established Task Force on BCIS within the BSI 2010. The objective of the BCIS is twofold: to contribute to enhancing access to various updated information available on the web regarding economy, trade and investments, and business development in the region; as well as to improve information flows between countries of the EU and Russia by removing information barriers and reducing misconceptions. The progress Report on the BCIS will be presented at the 7th Baltic Development Forum in Stockholm on 16-18 October 2005.

 BALTINFO: Alexey, to recall, the suggestion to investigate possibilities of creating a Common Information Space in the Baltic Sea region belongs to you. This initiative was swiftly supported by interested parties and now we have a professional Task Force dealing with this concept, led by CBSS Secretariat and VINNOVA. What was the motivation behind your proposal?

 A. IGNATIEV: We would like to see our region as a common space for all nations and communities living around the Baltic Sea. It is not easy to achieve this objective, as there are so many differences among us. We have dissimilar identities, political backgrounds, different values, and different interests, and we all members of different international groupings. We know that both the EU and Russia agreed to establish four common policy spaces in the realms of economy, internal and external security, as well as education, science and culture. And this is great. But we should be realistic: it will take many years to see these functional spaces fully operational. I am convinced that before creating anything of “common” the parties should know and understand each other much better than they do today. They (people) should have a feeling of belonging to and affiliating with the same common entity and therefore all common spaces should be initiated first in minds of people and their leaders, too. Unfortunately, this evident idea has not occurred to those who proposed the four EU-Russia common policy spaces. In the Baltic Sea Region we should start with the common information space as it is the underpinning for any cooperation and any joint activity. I also believe that the Baltic Sea Region can play a role of a pilot region in this sense, building upon its rich experience of cooperation at both national and (sub-) regional levels.

 BALTINFO: As of it inception in 1992, CBSS played an important role in preventing the appearance of dividing lines in the region, as well as in strengthening cohesion. The Council was assigned with this task at the time when remnants of the "cold" war were fresh. Do you think it is high time CBSS contributes not only to preventing new divisions in the region, but also to tackle the existing barriers inherited from the past, including first of all, the information "walls"?

 A. IGNATIEV: I believe it is natural that CBSS plays the leading role in the BCIS initiative acting as a locomotive to encourage and coordinate all related activities. As I mentioned, the Baltic Sea Region should be viewed as a “pioneer” region for the development and implementation of the four EU-Russia Common Spaces, which has to do with a vast and long experience of the CBSS in promoting regional cooperation. I assume many issues covered by the four Road Maps (approved at the 15th EU-Russia Summit in Moscow on 10 May 2005), as well as those that were left out, could be dealt with in the regional setting much faster and more efficient than at the EU-Russia level. We could also think of other “common spaces” that could be set up within the Baltic Sea context in addition to the four mentioned above. There are two other important tasks that CBSS could largely contribute to: supporting the shape-up of the common "Baltic Sea" identity and promoting the Baltic Sea region in the European and global markets.

 BALTINFO: Could you, please, give us some concrete examples of the "information barriers" that should be tackled? In which way the BSIC should set and what main areas of cooperation should be targeted - economic cooperation, business development, education, research, cultural and people-to-people exchanges?

A. IGNATIEV: The existing information barriers affect every sphere of our life. This is true for those who seek specific information on business opportunities and potential partners, as well as for those who wishes to rank and file organisations, companies and individuals. The local mass media provide little information on their neighbours, let alone other more distant areas of the Baltic Sea Region. In spite of the fact that any information is available on the Internet, some areas are poorly equipped from the IT point of view, and therefore still mostly rely on TV, radio or newspapers. Many old stereotypes and misconceptions about the neighbouring countries in the region, which exist as a result of the “cold war”, have to do with the lack of proper information. Therefore, the BCIS should aim at more than establishing a web-portal for an improved access to the information. I believe we need to think of creating in the Baltic Sea area something similar to EURONEWS. We could use such a regional public TV channel (EURONEWS is very popular not only in the EU but in Russia too) to exchange information on our problems and best practices, as well as to market the Baltic Sea Region all over Europe and in Russia, too. Another option - is a multilingual weekly (or monthly) bulletin as a supplementary to the leading local newspapers in every area of the Baltic Sea Region. One could also think of a bilingual (English-Russian) Baltic News Agency, which will serve the whole region and local mass media to spread information on life of the local communities. The existing mass media and networks should be used more effectively and in accordance with the road map for the BCIS, which should be elaborated after the BCIS concept is adopted at the 7th BDF Summit this November. The proposed approach is based on a simple rule: we should use every possibility and resource we have at our disposal to move towards the ultimate goal.