Included in BPO, Baltic Ports Organization are forty or more of the most significant ports in the nine countries on all sides of the Baltic Sea. The organization was established October 10, 1991 in Copenhagen, after the fall of the Berlin wall and the demise of the Soviet Union, to facilitate co-operation between the ports and to take care of the possibilities for shipping in the Baltic Sea region. Initially the Western European ports played an important role in spreading knowledge within, e.g. market economy and business thinking to the new countries. Development over the past years has moved very quickly and now with the expansion of the EU, the Baltic Sea as a market and the role of BPO will both enter new phases.
