The EU strategy for the Baltic Sea region covers eight Member States: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden.

Its chief aims are to improve the environmental state of the region and the Baltic Sea itself, and to make the area more prosperous through balanced economic development, as well as boosting its attractiveness to inhabitants, tourists and the labour force alike by ensuring the Baltic Sea region becomes safer and more secure.

As the leading international financial institution present in the region, the EIB was involved in the creation of the strategy in cooperation with the European Commission, an initiative which was a major focal point of the Swedish EU presidency in the latter half of 2009.