This is the launching event of the GREEN FORUM DAY promoting green values and sustainable development in urban and rural areas, held within the Nordic Council of Ministers project MODERN ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT IN RURAL AREAS. Disappearance of villages, cultural resettlement of rural areas, a qualitative transformation of rural settlements, the establishment of a close and intense social ties between urban and rural settlements - all these issues require prompt solutions to ensure the well-being of the inhabitants of these territories. In this regard, one of the most important challenges for the countries and regions of the Baltic Sea Region (and especially Russia) is to form a stable, balanced urban-rural partnership as part of the strategy and policy of regional development. OECD experts will present rural and urban dynamics in OECD countries, main results on urban growth based on functional urban areas along with the European modern rural development policy framework, which aims at building upon the spatial complementarities with urban areas. It will be followed by broad discussions of various modernization and innovation planning mechanisms for reorganization of today’s urban and rural areas, entrepreneurship development, promotion of ecofriendly modes of transport and mobility plans, sustainable ways of consumption and responsible behavior of the residents. The Round tables will focus on the EU strategies, BSR networks and flag projects, Nordic excellence models and RU initiatives for the development of sustainable partnerships between urban and rural areas, which should become a key chain in the development of a new strategy for rural-urban sustainable territorial planning.