A Permanent International Secretariat of the CBSS was established following a decision taken at the 7th Ministerial Session of the CBSS in  1998 in Nyborg, Denmark. The Secretariat was officially inaugurated at its premises on the island of Strömsborg in Stockholm on 20 October 1998.

The mandate of the Secretariat is as follows:

• to provide technical and organisational support to the Chairman of the CBSS and the structures and working bodies of the Council;
• to ensure continuity and enhanced coordination of CBSS activities;
• to implement the CBSS Information and Communication Strategy;
• to maintain the CBSS archives and information database;
• to maintain contacts with other organisations operating in and around the Baltic Sea region, the national authorities of Member States and the media.

The budget of the core part of the Secretariat is financed by annual contributions from the CBSS Member States according to annual budgets approved by the CSO. Since its establishment in 1998, the following specialised units have been integrated to the Secretariat: January 2001 – the Baltic 21 unit (servicing the Baltic 21 Network) and March 2002 – the Children's unit (servicing the Expert Group for Cooperation on Children at Risk) and the Task Force against Trafficking on Human Beings. The Secretariat of Northern Dimension Partnership in Public Health and Social Well-being is co-located at Strömsborg - for more information go to www.ndphs.org

Address of the Secretariat:

CBSS Secretariat
Strömsborg
P.O. Box 2010
103 11 Stockholm
SWEDEN
Tel:  +46 8 440 19 20
Fax: +46 8 440 19 44
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it