When people meet, dynamism walks hand in hand with creativity. Thoughts are exchanged, opinions discussed and ideas awakened. In Gotland, we're committed to a long-term strategy designed to make Gotland the cultural meeting place of the Baltic nations all the year round.

Cultural and artistic exchanges, academic exchanges and commercial exchanges. Cooperation in research, cooperation between businesses, cooperation in jointly run projects. Gotland is at present engaged in a dynamic development process, involving broad perspectives, ambitious goals and stimulating meetings. The Baltic Writers' and Translators' Centre and the Council of Europe's Viking Network have both found their natural location in Gotland.

A joint centre for humanistic and cultural research, IT projects and ecological matters is currently under development, and an international artists' centre is planned in Visby adjacent to the School of Art and Gotland University College.

Smoothly functioning communications are essential for an island. Frequent flights, high-capacity ferries and a thoroughly up-to-date telecommunications network make it entirely feasible to live and work in Gotland and do business with markets on the mainland and abroad. Information technology has made great strides in Gotland: several projects have already been implemented, including efforts to stimulate the use of digital technology out in the countryside.

All parts of our society are becoming increasingly internationalised. Sweden's membership in the EU will also influence Gotland, since we will thereby be afforded access to support from the EU structural funds. In the Europe of the future, the regions will probably play a far more significant role than they do today, and, in consequence, competition is likely to grow. As the responsibility for regional development will increasingly be placed on the regions themselves, our ability to influence local developments will be crucial to our future.

The new political situation in the Baltic has opened the door to increased regional cooperation, and new contacts and new projects are continuously being added to our already extensive list. For example, work is now under way on the development of a common strategy for the Baltic's seven largest islands.

In a time marked by structural upheaval and growing unemployment in industry and agriculture, Gotland's future is nevertheless bright. For Gotland is one of Sweden's greatest tourist attractions. Tourism is the fastest growing commercial sector of modern times, both in Sweden and abroad, and in ten years or so is likely to be Gotland's number-one industry. Tourism, too, is dependent on the island's own assets - the sea, the countryside, the unique local culture and the people of the island itself. The first tourists came to Gotland during the late 19th century and since that date have been arriving in ever-increasing numbers. Today, Gotland welcomes over 600,000 tourists per year. To meet the requirements of the future, Gotland's tourist industry has recently formulated a long-term development strategy, and people all over the island are now engaged in taking stock, making investments, mobilising resources and activating themselves and others with an eye to making Gotland even more attractive to the tourist.

Gotland has adopted a plan for the future. Known as Vision 2010, this is a strategy focused on stimulating local trade and industry and creating more jobs. The methods chosen to achieve these goals are breaks for small businesses, the development of Gotland as the cultural meeting place of the Baltic nations, and increased emphasis on the island as a true eco-community where recycling and re-use are a natural part of everyday living. Gotland will, too, continue to abide by its long-term commitment to an open, attractive countryside and well-kept towns and villages.