Founded in 1992, the Council of the Baltic Sea States includes Germany, Denmark, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Estonia and a representative from the European Commission.
The CBSS focuses on five priority areas which are environment and sustainable development, economic development, energy, education and culture, and civil security and human dimension, including the fight against trafficking in human beings.
An observer state since July 2009, Belarus takes active part in a number of the CBSS projects and activities. With support of the CBSS, Belarus started co-operation with the EU Northern Dimension partnership in health care and social welfare.
