German Chancellor Angela Merkel was hosting a meeting Wednesday with the leaders of nations around the Baltic Sea, with the two-day meeting expected to focus on energy cooperation, according to dpa. A concert and a dinner kicked-off the proceedings in Stralsund, with officials from 12 delegations due to spend Thursday discussing ways of sharing electricity across borders. The Council of the Baltic Sea States was set up in 1992. It comprises nine coastal nations - Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Russia, Finland and Sweden - plus Norway, Iceland and the European Commission. Conferences take place in a different nation every two years. Most nations sent their prime ministers to Germany, but Russia was represented by deputy premier Igor Shuvalov.
