BASREC (Baltic Sea Region Energy Cooperation) was established in 1999. It brings together the I I countries around the Baltic Sea (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, and Sweden) and the European Commission. BASREC offers a unique regional forum, in which policies and projects of regional and broader significance can be prepared and implemented. Five working groups within BASREC, for Bioenergy, Climate Change, Electricity, Energy Efficiency and Gas, were active in the period. 2003-2005. These working groups quite well represent the priorities of regional energy cooperation in the Baltic Sea region. Since the EU participates actively in BASREC activities, this kind of cooperation can provide for the EU. sustainable energy policy promotion in non-member countries, such as Russia, and can help sharing the experience between old and new member states as well as facilitate the know how transfer from such highly developed and advanced in sustainable development countries as Iceland and Norway to less developed ones. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.