The 8th annual Conference of the BSSSC convened in Pärnu, Estonia, on October 26 to 28, 2000 on the invitation of the Governor of Pärnu County together with the Mayor of Pärnu City.

Under the general Conference Theme, Turning point in Pärnu: "Meeting Social Challenges of the Millenium" the representatives from the subregions of the Baltic Sea states - Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Norway, Russia and Sweden - discussed progress and further perspectives of Baltic Sea co-operation and in particular subregional contributions as well as subregional requests to the overall political strategies in the area, namely the, Northern Dimension" and the, Pre-Accession Strategy".