Dear UBC Friends,

Through our Commission on Business Cooperation, we are a partner to the BaltMet Promo project. In my capacity as Chairman of the Commission, I was asked to become a member of the Policy Roundtable of that interesting project.

The BaltMet Promo projects aims to map different place branding efforts in the BSR. In this aspect I would very much like to draw your attention to the following report by Marcus Andersson, from Baltic Development Forum (BDF): "Place Branding and Place Promotion Efforts in the Baltic Sea Region".

You will find detailed information about BaltMet Promo and the report in the first projects newsletter: http://www.baltmetpromo.net/public/newsletter/

The first Policy Roundtable of the BaltMet Promo project was held in Vilnius on 31 May, in connection with the project's kick-off and the Baltic Development Forum Summit. There I had the chance to listen to two food-for-thought presentations: Prof. Christian Ketels presented his take on the region's current investment climate, based on his findings in the 2010 State of the Region Report. He also made a strong case for why it makes sense to work jointly in investment promotion.

Download this report here: www.bdforum.org

Bo Larsen, from the very successful Cruise Baltic cooperation, gathering 27 of the region's major cruise destinations in a "competitive collaboration", presented how the region has been developed into a major, global cruise destination. At the BDF Summit, Cruise Baltic was announced as the 2010 winner of the Baltic Sea Award for its outstanding achievements in putting the region on the global map of cruise destinations.

I would be happy to give you more information on request.

Best regards from Kiel

Wolfgang Schmidt
Chairman Commission on Business Cooperation

City of Kiel

Communication, marketing and economic affairs

Head of International

Wissenschaftspark Kiel - Neufeldt Haus
Fraunhoferstraße 2-4
D-24118 Kiel
Tel.: +49 (0) 431/2484-181
Fax: +49 (0) 431/2484-111
Mob: +49 (0) 1709290175
E-Mail: wschmidt@kiwi-kiel.de