Nordic countries are the global leaders in research and innovation, implementation of ICT, and are also well known of their remarkable achievements in e-commerce and m-commerce development. Companies such as Nokia and Ericsson are playing the leading role in promoting rapid development of the mobile information society and mobile Internet commerce; along with other numerous challenging start ups they have clearly shown that not all success stories of the digital age originate in Silicon Valley.

Although there are still obstacles to faster development of information society in the European emerging markets, the Baltic States, Poland and St. Petersburg area of Russia as integral parts of the Baltic Sea region market are already in the forefront in expanding the New Economy and modern technologies. They plan to accelerate the necessary improvements in education, infrastructure, regulatory, and legal environment to narrow the gap between them and the Nordic countries. The Baltic States already supply a growing number of IT specialists for large international projects. Estonia has one of the highest rates of Internet and mobile phone penetration in the world.

Latvia in general and Riga in particular is a logical venue for the Forum. Favourable preconditions for the growth of information society are being developed in Latvia, and Riga has already gained a reputation for being the business, finance and conference centre of the Baltic States. Riga confirmed this growing reputation by effectively hosting the Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in 2000. Moreover, Riga will celebrate its 800^th anniversary and host also the European Culture Month this year. These significant events will attract special international attention; hence they are also excellent preconditions for wider promotion of the Forum.


Forum objectives
The main goals of the Baltic Sea Region e-Business Forum are as follows:
· share experience in developing information society and building a harmonized e-business environment in the region thus creating the necessary preconditions for effective e-business, e-commerce, e-government and ICT development.
· assess the capabilities and advantages of each country of the region in e-business, e-commerce, e-government and ICT for strengthening regional co-operation in the framework of the New Economy and increasing the overall competitiveness of the region.
· provide an opportunity for local and international companies, and investors involved in e-business and e-commerce projects to exchange views on the current situation, possible future trends in e-business, e-commerce and discuss investment opportunities.

Forum structure
• Plenary session round-table discussions
• Parallel sessions
e-Financial Services
e-Security
e-Marketing, Branding and Customer Relationship Management
Financing e-Business
Logistics of e-Business
• 11 e-Business and e-Government Case Presentations
• Executive seminar - Managing Your Enterprise in the New Economy

Who should attend
Government officials
CEOs/Presidents/COOs/VPs
CFOs/Financial Managers
Directors of Internet/Intranet, e-commerce, m-commerce, new media and interactive media
VPs/Directors of Business Development
VPs/Directors of Strategic Management
Directors of IT, IS, Telecommunications
Developers of E-commerce Applications
Directors of Sales/Marketing
Strategic planners
R&D directors
Economists
E-commerce Analysts/Consultants

e-Advisory Committee
An e-Advisory Committee consisting of leading government and business representatives from the Baltic Sea Region will be formed to prepare the programme for the forum. In order to work more effectively the e-Advisory Committee will discuss all issues of the programme on-line.

In Latvia the Forum is supported by the government, as well as the Register of Enterprises of the Republic of Latvia, IT, Telecommunication and Electronic Alliance, Latvian Development Agency.

Provisional agenda

Wednesday, 26 September 2001
13:00 - 18:00 Early registration
14:00 - 18:00 Executive seminar
Managing Your Enterprise in the New Economy
16:00 - 16:20 Coffee
19:00 - 21:00 Welcoming cocktail reception

Thursday, 27 September 2001
08:00 - 09:00 Registration
09:00 - 11:10 Plenary session 1
The course towards a harmonized e-business environment in the Baltic Sea region
11:10 - 11:30 Coffee
11:30 - 13:30 Plenary session 2
Public and private sector partnership in supporting the development of e-business environment and e-government in the Baltic Sea region
13:30 - 14:45 Lunch break
14:45 - 16:00 Parallel sessions and presentations
e-Financial Services
e-Marketing, Branding and Customer Relationship Management
11 e-Business and e- Government Case Presentations
Case Presentations hosted by

16:10 - 16:30 Coffee
16:30 - 18:00 Continuation of parallel sessions and presentations
19:00 - 21:00 Reception in honour of the Forum participants

Friday, 28 September 2001
08:30 - 10:00 Plenary session 3 including chairman's review of previous day's proceedings
Building a favourable e-business environment in Europe in the context of the global New Economy
10:00 - 10:30 Coffee
10:30 - 12:00 Continuation of Plenary session 3
12:00 - 13:15 Lunch break
13:15 - 14:40 Parallel sessions
Financing e-Business
e-Security
Logistics of e-Business
14:40 - 15:00 Coffee
15:00 - 16:30 Continuation of parallel sessions

About the organisers
The project management company Birojs 2000 was established for the organization of the EBRD Annual Meeting on 20 - 22 May 2000 in Riga, Latvia. After nearly two years of intensive preparations coordinated by Birojs 2000, Riga for the first time after the restoration of Latvia's independence welcomed more than 2,500 leading international policy-makers, opinion-formers, financiers and entrepreneurs. Senior government officials representing 58 countries, leading international bankers, investors and, corporation managers plus over 200 media representatives were among them.

On the occasion of the EBRD Annual Meeting, Birojs 2000 in close cooperation with the Latvian government also organised the Baltic Business Conference - so far the biggest business event of such kind in the Baltic States, where more than 550 international business leaders, financiers and government officials interested in cooperation with the Baltic Sea region countries, took part.

Birojs 2000 main business activity is related to international project management, and organisation of high profile conferences, seminars, presentations and other events. We are experienced in the development and implementation of event concepts, programmes and campaigns (marketing, advertising, sponsorship, social events, etc.), event logistics, media relations, marketing communication and other services.