The Baltic Council of Ministers (BCM) ( lt, Baltijos Ministrų Taryba, lv, Baltijas Ministru padome, et, Balti Ministrite Nõukogu) is an institution for intergovernmental cooperation between the

Baltic states The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

and

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

established in 1994. It has decision-making powers only if representatives of all three Baltic states are present and decisions are made by consensus."Baltijos Ministrų Taryba"
''Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia'' A similar institution is the

Baltic Assembly The Baltic Assembly (BA) is a regional organisation that promotes intergovernmental cooperation between Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. It attempts to find a common position in relation to many international issues, including economic, politic ...

, an institution for parliamentary co-operation among the Baltic states, established on November 8, 1991 (it operates by the statutes entered in force on October 31, 1993).Baltijos Asamblėja
/ref> The two closely cooperate, with formal mechanisms, the trilateral agreement on governmental and parliamentary co-operation and protocols on specific cooperation mechanisms established in 2003-2004."Baltic cooperation"
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania

Organization and functions

The BCM was established on June 13, 1994 at the meeting of the Heads of Government of the Baltic States in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

. The highest decision making body of the BCM is the Prime Ministers' Council, which meets at least once a year. The BCM Co-operation Council consists of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Baltic States. The operation of the Council is ensured by its Secretariat that consists of government officials of the member states in charge of the cooperation. The activities in specific domains of cooperation are managed by Committees of Senior Officials. These Committees include one senior official from the corresponding ministry of the member countries, as well as experts. The major standing Committees of Senior Officials are in defense, energy, home affairs, transport and communications, and environment.Baltic Council of Ministers. Regulations for the Committees of Senior Officials and Task Forces
/ref> In the areas not covered by the committees, task forces may be created to handle specific issues.

References

{{Baltic states Organizations established in 1994 Baltic states Baltic organizations Bottom-up regional groups within the European Union Foreign relations of Lithuania Politics of Estonia Politics of Latvia Post-Soviet alliances International political organizations

Organization and functions

See also

References