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Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski attends Council of the Baltic Sea States' Ministerial Session

Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Republic of Poland

16.05.2025

Minister Radosław Sikorski put forward the Polish position regarding the need to strengthen the cooperation among the members of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) in the broadly understood field of security. He also presented the priorities of the incoming one-year Polish Presidency of the CBSS, starting on 1 July 2025. The Ministerial Session was held in Tallinn and Vihula on 15-16 May.

The meeting was attended by top diplomats from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, and deputy ministers from Germany, Iceland, and Sweden. The ministers discussed the impact of the Russian aggression against Ukraine on the Baltic Sea region, which is particularly vulnerable to a range of threats, including attacks against critical infrastructure. Minister Sikorski emphasised the importance of being able to effectively counter the shadow fleet. In his view, it is crucial that the interested countries of the region join forces to determine what is legally feasible in this respect.

An important point on the agenda concerned the preparations ahead of the NATO summit in The Hague this June.

Minister Sikorski presented the priorities of the Polish Presidency of the CBSS, scheduled to last a year from 1 July. These revolve around broadly conceived security and increasing the region's resilience. The participants deliberated on the future lines of cooperation within the Council, guided by factors including a report drawn up by high-level rapporteurs, or "Wise Persons" (that is, Estonia's former President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Lithuania's former Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis).

At the Ministerial Session in Vihula, the chiefs of diplomacy put their signatures on a Memorandum of Understanding on enhanced cooperation regarding critical underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea. Minister Sikorski signed the document twice, representing the Republic of Poland and on behalf of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas.

Additionally, the ministers met with representatives of the Baltic Sea Region Youth Forum.

The Session also served as an occasion for Estonia, which currently presides over the Council, to symbolically hand over the Presidency to Poland.