The eleven countries belonging to the Northern Dimension Partnership for Transport and Logistics (NDPTL) have today endorsed setting up a secretariat for the partnership in the framework of the TEN-T Days conference in Zaragoza, Spain.

Formal agreement for setting up a secretariat for the Northern Dimension Partnership for Transport and Logistics (NDPTL) has been signed by seven partners while the remaining four partners have adopted a declaration of intent while their internal proceedings are pending, which will allow them to join the signing parties in the coming months. This agreement has been signed in the framework of TEN-T Days, that are being hold in Zaragoza (Spain)

The Commission, which is not formally part of the secretariat, played the role of facilitator in supporting NDPTL partners to reach an agreement to allow the secretariat to be in place already from 1 January 2011. The secretariat will be hosted by the Helsinki-based Nordic Investment Bank (NIB), which will share its know-how in financing projects with the partners.

Northern Dimension Partnership for Transport and Logistics

The partnership consists of Germany, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Belorussia and Norway. The four countries that haven't signed the agreement to join the secretariat yet are Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Norway. During the November 2006 summit, these countries asked senior officials to examine the desirability of a Northern Dimension Partnership on Transport and Logistics.

The NDPTL is a cooperation structure set up to improve the major transport connections and logistics in the Northern Dimension region, with the purpose of stimulating sustainable economic growth at the local/regional and global level

After a series of intensive talks, the ministers of these countries agreed in October 2008 to establish the partnership on the basis of the recommendations made by an ad hoc working group. The steering committee of the NDPTL met for the first time on 8 December 2009 in Stockholm. It was decided at that occasion that Lithuania will chair the steering committee during the year 2010. Following the endorsement of the agreement on the NDPTL secretariat, the financing principles of such a secretariat will have to be set and agreed by the partners by the end of 2010.