Sonderband 2. International Council on Archives. Dritte Europäische Archivkonferenz, Wien 11. bis 15. Mai 1993. Tagungsprotokolle (1996)
2. Session /Séance. Regional (trans-border) Cooperation / Coopération régionale (transfrontaliere) - Rastas, Pirkko: Archival cooperation between the Nordic and Baltic countries / La coopération entre les pays Nordique et les pays baltes (english 161 - français 176)
office in April and was expected to make a plan for the development of the archival system. The International Council on Archives should also try to make the Russians return the archival material that was taken from the Baltic countries during the Soviet epoch. Representatives from the Baltic archival institutions had also been invited to the 1991 Nordic Archival Congress in Härnösand in Sweden as observers. All the Nordic countries want to help the Baltic countries to reconstruct their archival systems and one may already consider the reconstruction as a common Nordic project. Cooperation has usually been an affair between one Nordic country and all the Baltic countries. Evidently the Nordic countries should strive towards better coordination of development operations in the Baltic archival institutions. The Nordic development aid to the Baltic countries should according to the Director of the Swedish National Archives, Erik Norberg follow certain priorities: 1. Participation in modern archival training 2. Better possibilities to use mutually interesting Baltic archives 3. Common manifestations like exhibitions, publications etc. We should also try to make it easier for researchers to study relevant material in our own country7. The Nordic countries paid the expenses for one delegate from each Baltic country participating in the International Archival Congress in Montreal, which may be considered as an actual case of such Nordic aid to the Baltic archives. There was, however, a strong feeling of reluctance towards the idea of extending institutionalized Nordic archival cooperation to include the Baltic countries. Decades of Nordic cooperation have created a rather established practice and only Scandinavian languages are used at the meetings. The Baltic countries are looking for international relations. They share, to a certain extent, the cultural traditions of the Nordic countries. The Nordic countries are relatively small and so are the Baltic countries, where internal solutions may also be applied in another country. The Baltic countries also need cooperation with other neighbours, particularly Germany and Poland. Cooperation with the Nordic countries cannot compensate direct Baltic contacts to the international archival community and Europe. Now the Baltic countries especially need information about the organization and methods of western archivists. They would benefit greatly if they were supplied with all Unesco and ICA publications and if the archival institutions of different countries sent 'heir publications to these countries. The Baltic archives also have a need of modern technical equipments such as typewriters, photocopy-machines and micro-computers. Swedish and Finnish archives have already sent some typewriters and photocopymachines to Estonian archives. 2. Session/Séance: Rastas, Cooperation between the Nordic and Baltic Countries 7 These aims for cooperation were expressed by the Director of the National Archives of Sweden, Erik Norberg. 174
