Excerpt from a speech by Dr. Valdis Birkavs, Minister of Foreign Affairs, at the conference "Security and Prosperity in the Baltic Region", Riga, November, 17, 1997
’’In 1989, millions of Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians joined hands across the Baltic States in a human chain that became known around the world as The Baltic Way. This Baltic Way runs through the heart of a new broader regional identity. This is an idea that needs to be developed with the help of all who are interested in our region.For the sake of philosophical exploration, let’s call it the ’The Amber Gateway.’
The idea of a Baltic region connected globally along world trade routes represents a way of life and a way of business that we want and need in our region. The Amber Gateway is a vision of regional development in the area where Hanseatic merchants once traded; but it is a vision even larger than that of the Hansa which was, after all, a cartel. Some commercial interests were in, some were out. Our vision is one of inclusion, co-operation, and integration.
We all imagine the conditions needed for achieving a bold new era of regional development, co-operation and trade. The Hanseatic spirit of trade needs to be rekindled in our region so that it can inspire a new kind of regional relationship - one that is tailored to the new demands and new opportunities of 21st century systems of transport and communication.
The Amber Gateway is a co-operative network of markets, linked by ports and airports, fuelled by free enterprise and supported by democratic governments sharing a common vision of peace, trade and prosperity.
It is a vision of how we in the Baltic region will do business in the 21st century.
Latvia believes that it is in all our interests to build a unique and vital identity for our region. If the Amber Gateway describes its spirit, then Council of Baltic Sea States (CBSS) is a group which brings the vision down to earth in the form of practical measures to improve the climate for business, ecology, and civic security.
The CBSS is a relatively new organisation, but that may also be its strength and promise. As members of the CBSS we are all presented with the challenge of defining its role and realising its true potential.
Regional co-operation stimulates economic growth, and the CBSS can be a motor that drives development of the Baltic Sea region. Though intra-regional co-operation is important, it is equally important that the region as a whole continue its full integration into European structures and institutions, and play a role in the Trans-Atlantic relationship. This notion of trans-regional co-operation is implicit in the Amber Gateway idea.
The Amber Gateway reaches out in all directions, enabling the free flow of both East-West, and North-South trade. It is also inclusive, in that it serves all countries that lie on these vital Northern European trade routes, regardless of whether they border the Baltic Sea or not.
The 21st century, if it is to be a prosperous time, must bring together the people, products and interests of the countries from many regions stretching from the United States to Russia.
We welcome the Northern European Initiative in this context and the more active role the United States is playing in the Baltic region. We believe that the development of an Amber Gateway concept - the concept of a Baltic Sea region more strongly linked in a global context - will encourage the United States and other distant powers to participate in the economic rebirth of this region through joint investment projects.
Those participating in this conference came here with an instinctive understanding of the potential dynamism of the Baltic Sea Region in a newly united Europe. It is up to all of us to find concrete ways to untap this potential.‘’