The Baltic Forum opened here on Friday, with government officials, academics and business leaders from the Council of the Baltic Sea States meeting to discuss environmental and energy issues.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in his address to the forum that global economic development in recent years has come at too high an environmental price, and that the Baltic region, as an advanced, industrialized part of the world, faces especially complex environmental issues.

Medvedev stressed that economic development and environmental protection do not necessarily contradict one another.

Non-traditional energy sources and more efficient use of existing natural resources can become motors of economic growth, leading to the creation of a 'green economy', Medvedev said.

Regional environmental management is already a major priority for the Baltic Council's Helsinki Committee for Environmental Protection.

Holding an Environment Year event in Russia, the Russian government hopes to encourage more people to become involved in environmental protection.

Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, Polish Deputy Prime Minister Janusz Piechocinski, and former Finnish President Tarja Halonen were among the foreign dignitaries in attendance.

The Baltic Sea is located in the north of Europe. Nine countries share access to the Baltic coastline, while rivers from 14 countries drain into it.

Baltic coastal regions are home to 90 million people, with emissions from industry, agriculture and urban settlements in these regions as well as emissions from increasing shipping traffic leading to ever-increasing levels of pollution.