Riga, 27 September 2001.

Prime Minister,
Excellences,
Ladies and gentlemen!

On behalf of the organisers I would like to welcome you at the Baltic Sea Region e-Business Forum.

As recently the issues of regional cooperation among the countries of the Baltic Sea region in developing the information society have become very topical, we took the challenge to invite you to join this event. We sincerely believe that now is the right moment for sharing experiences at the government and business level on this topic, as well as building a harmonized e-business environment in the region. The fact that tomorrow the first Ministerial Meeting of the ICT ministers from the region will be held, as well as participation of more than four hundred top level delegates in the Forum, including high ranking government officials, heads of international organisations, global and regional business leaders, demonstrates that Latvian initiative has been widely accepted.

I would like to thank the Government of Latvia, and specifically Prime Minister of Latvia and his Office, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Transport, Economy, Justice and other governmental and business institutions for their commitment to the success of the Forum.

I would like to express special gratitude also to our International organisational partner - OECD, to the e-Advisory Committee comprising government and business representatives from the countries of the Baltic Sea region, as well as to all our sponsors and partners.

I wish you a successful meeting and an enjoyable social programme in Riga!

And now I would like to invite Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia and the Honorary Chairman of this Forum Mr.Andris Bērziņš to take the floor for the opening address.
Your Excellency, You are welcome!