The Baltic Palette II is a joint effort between the metropolitan areas surrounding Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga and St. Petersburg to develop a dynamic and sustainable region. The main challenges in the Baltic Palette region are the vast differences in development levels between the partners from the old and new EU member states and the non-EU partners. The Baltic Palette network has been established to promote transnational co-operation and the Baltic Palette II project is working on areas of spatial planning, transport networks, information society, tourism and water quality management.The Baltic Palette II project’s objective was to strengthen the BPR macro region building including the sub-regions of Stockholm-Mälar region, Southern Finland region, Tallinn-Harju region, Riga region and St. Petersburg-Leningrad region. The target is that in the year 2020 BPR will be known as a globally competitive research and business arena. The project is based on the existing cooperation network as well as a common vision and strategy prepared during the Interreg II C Baltic Palette project.The project is based on the results of the first Baltic Palette project (Interreg II C project). Through the work within the Baltic Palette II even closer partnership is formed and prerequisites for a more sustainable development and co-operation are created. Transnational co-operation takes place within the following themes: spatial planning and urban management for sustainable polycentric structures, transport corridors and inter-modal transport strategies for passenger travel and cargo traffic, information society, sustainable tourism in metropolitan and rural areas, and water quality management systems. For each theme there is one action group implementing the work. The action groups are international consisting of experts from the Baltic Palette partner organisations. Achievements: The practical co-operation activities of the project were carried out in five fields. The polycentric platform made a feasibility study on transnational training courses in spatial planning and organised a course about new methods in spatial planning. The transport corridor network carried out nine feasibility studies on transport modes and networks. Also road and railway investment priorities were presented for each BPR regions. In the field of spatial development of information society joint database and virtual map office have been created. Sustainable tourism has been promoted among others by producing a map “Baltic Sea Region for Tourists”. In addition associations and partnerships have been formed for river basin management. A new agreement between the partners as well as a permanent joint committee is ensuring that the Baltic Palette co-operation will go on.Several international seminars and meetings with over 100 participants in each have taken place during the Baltic Palette II project. A Baltic Palette joint committee, which consists of political decision-makers from the partner regions, has been established. The results of the Baltic Palette II project have been collected in a summary report “Neighbourhood of Opportunities” that was published in autumn 2004. All the action group reports have been published electronically on the Baltic Palette web site.Polycentric Platform and Training in Spatial Planning; The report on polycentricity in the Baltic Palette regions, the reports about the case studies and an inventory on existing spatial planning programmes and courses have been published. A training course about the best practices in spatial planning within the BP II themes was arranged in autumn 2004.Transport Corridors; Regional reports describing the needs of investments in infrastructure related to transport corridor networks have been published as well as reports on different transport modes. The results have been disseminated in regional seminars in all Baltic Palette regions.Information Society; Indicators on the development level of information society in the regions have been collected and a report has been published. The data and maps used in the study are available on the web site.Sustainable Tourism; A market analysis of sustainable tourism in all five countries has been published. Tourism product development and a pilot study on developing tourism routes have resulted a map “Baltic Sea Region for Tourists” that was published in spring 2004.Water Quality Management; Promotion work to establish water protection associations in the regions has continued through the project and pilot projects have been carried out in Latvia, Russia and Finland relating to the implementation of the Water Framework Directive.