• INTRODUCTION
• GENERAL GUIDELINES
• Part One: ACTION PLAN FOR THE UBC BOARD, UBC PRESIDIUM AND THE UBC SECRETARIAT
• Part Two: ACTION PLAN FOR THE UBC COMMISSIONS, WORKING GROUPS AND NETWORKS

INTRODUCTION

The UBC Action Plan 2004-2005 refers to the UBC Strategy adopted by the VII UBC General Conference in Klaipeda, October 2003. It also refers to the Action Plan 2002-2003 and to the action plans of the UBC Commissions and Networks.

The Action Plan is divided into two parts. Part one is the Action Plan for the UBC organs – Executive Board, Presidium, Secretariat. Part two is the Action Plan for the UBC Commissions and Networks. It is compiled from the Action Plans of the Commissions and Networks. The Action Plan is vitally important for the implementation of UBC Strategy adopted at the General Conference in Klaipeda.

GENERAL GUIDELINES

UBC and its organs shall act in the interest of and try to meet the expectations of the UBC member cities from a Baltic Sea Region perspective. UBC shall promote an extensive cooperation and a cohesive policy with the governmental and regional levels and their institutions in the Baltic Sea Region.

More specifically the UBC activities in the UBC Board, Presidium, Commissions / Networks and in other UBC Organs shall take into account the following guidelines specified in the new UBC Strategy:

- UBC shall be a spokesman for its members in Baltic Sea Region issues and promote the Region in Europe and in the World

- UBC shall be a Platform for Baltic Sea Region Cities to Meet and Work Together

- UBC shall support Sustainable Development - balanced democratic, economic, environmental and social development

- UBC shall promote Local Level Governance in Europe and in the Baltic Sea Region

- UBC shall be Watchdog regarding EU Policies that affect Cities in the BSR. As far as possible UBC shall have the EU enlargement as background for its activities

- UBC shall seek co-operation partners all over Europe and globally

- UBC shall Provide Information and Promote Awareness Rising

- UBC shall promote the influence of citizens, especially young persons and contribute to gender equality.

Part One: ACTION PLAN FOR THE UBC BOARD, UBC PRESIDIUM AND THE UBC SECRETARIAT

The main political work of the UBC Board and the UBC Presidium is connected to:

• Strengthening of UBC as an organisation for local level cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region in all fields which are of interest for the local authorities
• Utilisation of the enlargement of the European Union for the benefit of the Baltic Sea Region
• Implementation of Agenda 21 in the Baltic Sea Region
• Promotion the Local Authority Level with regard to the Northern Dimension of the European Union (http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/north_dim/)

1.    Priorities for the UBC Board and for the UBC Presidium

Activities

• The UBC Board is the highest UBC organ between the General Conferences and, among others, approves the policy of UBC. Therefore the Board shall encourage City politicians to be active in the board.
• The Board shall ensure that the UBC work is carried out in accordance with the new Strategy adopted by the UBC General Conference in Klaipeda. (www.ubc.net/strategy)
• The Board shall promote the search for new financing sources in order to create a stable financial base for the UBC and its Commissions.
• The Board Members represent UBC nationally and, among others, shall be authorised and encouraged to have contact with the national local authority associations and the national regional and governmental authorities.
• The Board Members shall promote UBC within their native countries as well as outside eg. at the meetings of other organisations.
• The Board Members shall encourage non-member cities to enter UBC. The Board shall also encourage all member cities to be active in the work of the Commissions and Networks.
• The Board Members shall report about national activities to the UBC Board.
  

Political priorities

1. The enlargement of the European Union in the Baltic Sea Region

The coming EU enlargement in the Baltic Sea region will bring substantial changes for the activities and policies of cities in all countries in the region.

The UBC Member Cities will face a completely new geo-political situation as a result of the Baltic Sea becoming almost an Inland Sea of the European Union. This means free movement of labour (since 2006), capital, goods and services, a cohesive legislation and, at a little longer perspective, a common currency. The cities in the accession countries are, in addition to that, also experiencing fundamental changes when adapting to European Union conditions.

Also Russian UBC Member cities will be affected by the EU enlargement. It is important to work for minimising the new barrier effects caused by the EU enlargement. The Russian cities in the BSR shall be assisted in their work to adapt to the new situation.

One of the main strategic aims of the UBC shall be the utilisation of the EU enlargement for the benefit of UBC member cities and the BSR.

UBC shall carry out the following activities in this field during 2004-2005:

- Promote the Baltic Sea Region from Local Authority perspective in the European Union and all European Institutions through active information and contact activities.

- Carefully follow the development concerning the proposals for creating EU programmes for the next period from 2007. UBC shall particularly work for an introduction of an instrument enabling cross-boarder cooperation across the maritime boarders of the Baltic Sea.

- Find and engage allies and friends of the Baltic Sea Region in other European networks and organisations.

- Promote the local government level at the national government level in the accession countries to secure the interests of the local level.

Implementation of Agenda 21 locally

Although many cities and towns in the BSR base their development on sustainable development principle, nevertheless, this principle is not consistently implemented. There are municipalities in BSR where the interest for sustainable development is not stable and retreats from the consistent implementation of this principle take place. All UBC Commissions are bound to use sustainable development principle as the background for the Commissions work.

The role of the UBC Board and the Presidium in the field of Agenda 21 is to support UBC Commissions and especially the Commission on Environment to promote the implementation of this principle in the Commissions policies and activities, in accordance with the UBC Agenda 21 Action Program. The Commission on Environment is the main responsible for Agenda 21-matters in UBC.

Examples of activities:
- To promote the Commissions work based on sustainable development principles
- To promote dissemination of the information and raising of awareness of the Commission members concerning the matter of sustainable development.
- To promote the involvement of the member cities in a wider propagating of these ideas at home.

Deepening co-operation with the BSR organisations and networks

UBC is one of the main actors in the Baltic Sea Region. However, it is necessary for the major networks and organisations to join forces in order to be successful. This is especially important in issues relating to the European Union and to promote the BSR generally.

The UBC President is the main responsible for further strengthening of the cooperation with the other networks and organisations. On the European level, close cooperation shall be developed with sister organisations to UBC from the other European regions ie. Conference of Atlantic Arc Cities (www.arcat.org), Forum of Adriatic & Ionian Cities, International Black Sea Club. 

UBC and mentioned local authorities organisations shall act together especially on influencing these EU sector policies which have direct or indirect impact on the local authorities - regional policy, transport, environment, social, business development etc. UBC and other regional local authorities associations must make sure they will be included on the list of organisations to be consulted by the European Union, as regards EU actions and policies.

UBC shall continue to participate in CBSS (www.cbss.st) meetings and other meetings of major Baltic Sea Region organisations. UBC welcomes CBSS proposal to hold the annual coordination meetings of major Baltic Sea organisations in connection with UBC and BSSSC general conferences, alternately.

Promotion of the Local Authority Level with regards to the Northern Dimension of the EU

The Northern Dimension is now a part of the official EU policy. The Presidium will look after that the interest of the local level government is met satisfactorily in the development of the Northern Dimension. UBC shall also take initiatives to further develop the Northern Dimension from local authority perspective.

2.    Development of the UBC organisation

The UBC Board is responsible for the general development of the UBC organisational structure to function for the benefit of the UBC member cities and UBC.

UBC Commissions

The UBC Commissions work in specific areas of municipal activities. In that sense the Commissions work in vertical activity areas. Most of the practical work in UBC is carried out in the commissions.

At present, there are 10 UBC Commissions:

• Commission on Business Cooperation
• Commission on Culture
• Commission on Education
• Commission on Environment
• Commission on Health and Social Affairs
• Commission on Information Society
• Commission on Sport
• Commission on Tourism
• Commission on Transportation
• Commission on Urban Planning

The Commissions make their own action plans, which are described in the UBC action plan, part II.

UBC Networks

The UBC Networks deal with issues that are important for all or several municipal activities, which means horizontal activity areas. Their work is closely associated with mainstreaming, meaning to promote the specific tasks of the networks into the activities of commissions and cities.

At present UBC has the following networks:

• Women’s Network
• Agenda 21 Coordinators Network (through the Commission on Environment)
• EU Coordinators Network
• Network on Youth Issues

The UBC Networks make their own action plans, which are described in the UBC action plan, part II.

UBC Board Role regarding the UBC Commission and UBC Networks

The role of the UBC Board regarding the UBC Commissions and UBC Networks is to:

- Coordinate the work between the Commissions and Networks.

- Support the Commissions and Networks financially.

There should be a ”Principle of Subsidiarity” regarding the relation between the UBC Board and the Commissions / Networks: The UBC Board shall not handle tasks that are best taken care of at the Commission / Network level.

The Presidium/Board shall promote the UBC Commissions and Networks also to function as political platforms for city politicians to promote sector policies in the EU.                                                                            

The UBC Presidium/Board shall have a yearly meeting with the Commission and Network chairpersons. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss items of common interest and to give and get new ideas.

UBC Working Groups

UBC Working groups are mainly intended for internal UBC purposes, finding solutions on specific tasks and carrying out specific developments necessary or beneficial for the UBC organisation. The UBC Board and Presidium may appoint and dissolve the Working Groups whenever appropriate.

UBC Secretariat

UBC Secretariat is responsible for the efficient functioning of the organisation.

The responsibilities of the Secretariat include, inter alia:

- administration of the institution
- production and distribution of Union documents
- organisation of Union meetings and events
- management of Union finances
- publication of the UBC bulletin, other publications and promotional materials
- Union representation at conferences and meetings (if delegated)
- assistance to Commissions and other Union bodies, as appropriate
- informing member cities about interesting Baltic and European conferences and events
- updating of UBC homepage, production and dissemination of UBC e-news
- other tasks commissioned by the General Conference, the Executive Board or the President.

In the period 2004-2005 the Secretariat is planning inter alia to:

- co-organise, prepare documentation for and reports from 6-7 Executive Board meetings
- co-organise, prepare documentation for and publish report from the VIII UBC General Conference in Turku 2005
- publish new issues of the Baltic Cities Bulletin
- publish other UBC documents and publications
- further develop the UBC homepage and the e-news

The major focus of the Baltic Cities Bulletin is directed to information about the work of the Union and the actions of the member cities. Besides, more emphasis is placed on covering some specific fields of general interest, which are presented as main themes for each issue. The bulletin is published by UBC Secretariat in 5500 copies and sent out to over 200 Baltic cities as well as a number of organisations and institutions including the EU. The bulletin is available on the Internet at www.ubc.net. The UBC Baltic Cities Bulletin is widely recognised as excellent information source about the UBC activities and developments in Baltic cities. The Secretariat and the Editorial Board will make all efforts to further develop the bulletin and cover fields that are of interest for the member cities.

Part Two: ACTION PLAN FOR THE UBC COMMISSIONS, WORKING GROUPS AND NETWORKS

3.    Commission on Business Cooperation

The meeting of the UBC Commission on Business Cooperation in 2004 will be hosted by the city of Växjö. This meeting will continue to develop the topics started and discussed in the meeting in Kaunas City, focussing on the topic of e-dimension and business incubator and technological parks.

The city of Tallinn will be the place for the UBC Business Commission meeting in the year of 2005.

It is planned to develop the cooperation and relations among the cities of the UBC in the field of business cooperation concerning such themes as:

• Development of e-Services
• Young entrepreneurs
• Vocational re-education
• Creating links between different projects and organizations
• Business services for enterprises in tourism sector
• Interaction (UBC website)
• Establishing of Seed Fund
• Establishing of industrial/technology parks
• Improving the business climate in UBC member cities

Recently, in order to implement the aforementioned goals, the proposal “Developing a Technology Park/Business Incubator Concept in Lithuanian Cities” was submitted to Lithuanian PHARE SPF programme in May 2003. The proposal was first initiated in the Commission meeting in Tampere in May 2002, and after that further elaborated by Klaipeda Regional Development Agency and the Baltic Institute of Finland. The project was approved by PHARE in December 2003 with the total budget of 48000 euros. The project started in February 2004, and it will last 12 months. Klaipeda Regional Development Agency is the project leader, and the partners include cities of Klaipeda, Panevezys and Tampere and the Baltic Institute of Finland.

4.    Commission on Culture

Annual sessions of the UBC Commission on Culture – places and topics of these sessions must be discussed among the interested UBC member cities within this and next years.

The new Board of the CoC, elected during the 7th annual session in Szczecin, 3-5 Oct.2003 will continue the main aim of the Commission on Culture which is to devise and co-ordinate culture and art projects, events and co-operation in the field of culture. Among UBC members, the commission works to foster contacts and develop joint projects. Cultural collaboration is a perfect tool for sharing knowledge of history and heritage of the different Baltic countries and for creating mutual understanding.

MARE ARTICUM – continuation of editing the magazine of Baltic contemporary art.

There are two issues that will be planned to be edited in the year 2004: ‘Tested on Art’ and ‘Metropolis’. The editorial board of MARE ARTICUM, designed as a forum for artistic exchange in the Baltic region will keep initiated a series of exhibitions, seminars and public promotions of the magazine. In 2005 it is going to be organised the 6th international contemporary art exhibition (previously called the Baltic Biennial of Contemporary Art) under the auspices of the UBC.

The newest undertaking of CoC, which will be developed within 2 years, is going to explore the rich and diverse heritage of the Baltic region. It is entitled A Strand of Baltic Pearls. A History of Cities in the Region. The project will look at the roles played by key cities throughout the centuries in a series of essays. Written by scholars from around the Baltic, each essay will be devoted to a century of Baltic history and the city or cities that exerted the most influence during the period.

The essays will examine the rise to prominence of each city and the ways it influenced regional development during its century of dominion and will provide detailed accounts of maritime activities, daily life, the roles of women in those societies, as well as the relations among ethnic segments of the population.

The commission will then publish these essays in book form, as well as leading symposia in each of the cities profiled in the essays. The book will also include a geologic and topographic history of the sea and the lands around it. The book will conclude with a timeline of Baltic history and predictions for the future of the region, including the environmental, political and social threats it faces as it enters this new era.

The commission has begun the first step in the process and is currently working to empanel an editorial board of authors from each city and create an administrative secretariat to support the project. The board then will collect commissioned and historical writings, photographs, drawings and other significant archive materials that will be entered into a computer database. This information-gathering phase will provide an opportunity to stage seminars and symposiums on local history in those cities. The first edition of the book will comprise English- and Polish- language versions and will be launched at ceremonies in cities around the region.

 5.    Commission on Education

The Commission on Education was established to work with aims:

• to offer the member cities good possibilities for exchange of experiences,
• to bring up new initiatives for joint EU-projects on competence improvement.

According to the named aims, the Commission on Education is going to work with following activities during 2004-2005:

• The two running activities of the Commission on Education, research school in Norrtälje, Sweden and summer camp in Hiumaa, Estonia
• E-mail list of participants (in all meetings of the commission) in order to have an active network.
• Adult education - to find out the interest and needs in this field and to organise a contact seminar.
• Initiative of the students - to encourage students to take the initiative to new projects.
• Water Days for school classes - a possibility for teachers to come to Norr Malma Field Station in Sweden and to look what is happening there, get new ideas how to organise such kind of programmes at home.
• Best Practice Award - schools in UBC cities can manage health and environmental programmes, contact to other schools by Internet. Best practice can be rewarded.
• Practical training for students - it is a possibility for twin-cities, but there are many problems to find interested companies.

6.    Commission on Environment

There are several challenges that the Commission should be addressing in its work during the coming two-year period. The most important ones include:

1. Implementation of the UBC Agenda 21 Action Programme. This is a joint challenge of the whole UBC and several commissions will be involved. The EnvCom has a good potential to contribute to the program, and the EnvCom Secretariat is also functioning as the programme co-ordination and management agency.
2. Supporting cities joining the EU. Poland and the Baltic States are becoming members of the European Union in 2004. This implies many new challenges to member cities in those countries.
3. Organising activities to strengthen co-operation over the border of the European Union, with member cities in Russia. Many Russian member cities have both considerable environmental challenges and excellent activities and good practices, and are very active in the UBC. After the enlargement of the European Union special emphasis needs to be put on co-operation with cities which remain outside of the EU.
4. Keeping up and supporting the current high-level of the “state-of-the-art” of municipal environmental administration and management in the Baltic Cities. Many of UBC member cities are on the highest level of environmental performance in the World. Such high-quality, state-of-the-art has considerable direct environmental impact and huge demonstration potential for other cities. It needs to be kept up and utilised more for the benefit of other cities in the Baltic Sea Region and among our partner organisations in other parts of Europe and the World.
5. Improving the information and good practice services of the commission to better meet the current and future needs of Baltic Cities. The possibilities provided by modern information technology, especially the internet, are not yet being properly utilised by the commission. There is also a large potential of good implemented practices in member cities, which is not yet properly used either. Both of these issues need to be addressed for the benefit of the member cities.

In order to meet these challenges, the Commission will carry out several activities and organise services for the member cities. All the activities and services strongly utilise and mobilise the potential provided by the excellent network of the UBC.

The network service of the UBC Commission on Environment is a combination of projects, regular meetings and workshops, information work and policy liaison with other organisations, environmental and sustainable development policy processes and policy-makers. Such policy-makers include Baltic Sea Regional actors like national ministries of the environment, Nordic Council of Ministers, Baltic 21 and HELCOM, as well as the European Union – especially European Commission DG Environment.

During the period between the VII and VIII General Conference, the Commission on Environment will put special emphasis on treating the challenges introduced above. In order to do this, the following activities will be carried out:

• Meetings and workshops of the commission twice a year – providing opportunity to discuss and plan projects and other activities as well as for direct learning and sharing.
• Web-portal of the environment and good practices in Baltic Cities – to provide best possible forum and source of information, lessons learnt and good solutions implemented in the cities.
• Projects addressing the challenges in Baltic Cities and implementing the thematic goals of the UBC Agenda 21 Action program – the commission is foreseen to be involved in several large co-operation projects during the period (more information on these can be obtained from the UBC Agenda 21 Action Programme 2004-2009).
• Capacity-building – organising (mainly through projects) opportunities for the cities joining the EU as well as cities within the EU to up-date their information on environmental policies, practices and legislation.

Information services – publishing Baltic Cities Environmental Bulletin, maintaining database on environmental contacts in Baltic Cities and partner organisations.

7. Commission on Information Society

The UBC Commission on Information Society will aim at promoting and accelerating development of information society in the UBC member cities by facilitating exchange and dissemination of experiences, information, best practices and successful applications of technical innovations acquired in local information society activities. The goal is to enhance knowledge and capacities of the local authorities responsible for information society issues to design, develop and manage innovative information society policies and activities.

The activities of the UBC Commission on Information Society will follow and support the guidelines, strategies and general objectives set out in eEurope, eRussia, Northern eDimension and various national e-initiatives promoting the Information Society development in the Baltic Sea Region.

  - Introduction of local information society programmes and strategies, different models and approaches, and their comparison
 - Best practices of public online services
 - Main development needs, priority themes for international cooperation
 - Ongoing international activities

2. Database / Internet portal for Baltic best practices on local information society development (Spring-Autumn 2004)

 - to be developed on the basis of the above questionnaire

3. Preparation of an Interreg III C project proposal “eCities Forum: Promoting Information Society in the Baltic Sea Region” (February-April 2004)

 - The project is aiming to enhance capacities, management skills and technical knowledge of the city authorities and decision-makers responsible for knowledge society issues to design and establish policies and programmes on improving infrastructure, applications, content and networks in providing public online services both to citizens and businesses. The goal is to ensure adequate capacities and competitive environment in the local municipal administrations in developing technology-based public services.
 - A preparatory meeting will be organized in Tampere on 24 March 2004 in connection with Tampere eGlobal Conference (22-24 March 2004, www.eglobalconf.net)
 - Deadline for Interreg III C applications is 30 April 2004

4. Elaboration of new project ideas (Spring-Autumn 2004)

5. Seminar on local information society development in the Baltic Sea Region (2005)

To be organized in connection with eBaltics, InfoBalt or another major information society and ICT related event in the Baltic Sea Region

8.    Commission on Health and Social Affairs

Activities planned by the Commission in 2004-2005:

• UBC Social Charter implementation process
• Common Project together with the UBC Women’s Network
• Combating the Silence and Invisibility of Trafficking Locally
• Working group on the EU strategy against poverty and social exclusion concerning its implementation on the national and local level
• Hanse Tour Sunshine (preparation, next tour in 2006)
• Co-operation with the UBC Commission on Environment in issues of BLA21
• Strengthening of Co-operation with partners (WHO, Social Hansa, ..)
• More awareness of our activities (Publications, Flyer)
• Strengthening of Networking, more thematic meeting occasions

9.    Commission on Sport

The main goals and planned activities for the Commission on Sport for the next years are as follows:

I. Creating and improving a network for international co-operation in sport:

- Annual Meeting in Narva (Estonia), March 2004
- Annual Meeting, March 2005

II. Promoting and supporting sport events with the special focus on the youth, the disabled, the elderly, gender equality:

- UBC CS Grants 2004
- UBC CS Grants 2005

III. Exchanging of experience and information about sport events in member cities organized by sport clubs and societies:

- creating Annual Calendars of Sport Events in UBC member cities on UBC CS website
- building up a database of youth sports’ clubs in UBC member cities on UBC CS website

10.    Commission on Tourism

For the period 2004-2005 the Commission on Tourism plans:

1. to keep on arranging at least one meeting per year for the whole Commission on Tourism.

2001 in Vilnius, Lithuania
2002 in Palanga, Lithuania
2003 in Cēsis, Latvia
2004 in Jūrmala, Latvia (September)
2005 in Kalmar?, Sweden?

2. to continue with the UBC Interreg project Baltic Welcome Centre (2001- 2004)
3. to continue with the UBC Interreg project Ancient Times (2003 - 2006)
4. to initiate new projects concerning sustainable development in tourism
5. to help UBC member cities to more actively engage in the work of the Commission
6. to improve its newsletter activity
7. to improve the Commissions' homepage
8. to focus on information to and training of its members' staff
9. to support activities that encourages development and sustainability in tourism
10. to continue its co-operation with the Commission on Culture

11.     Commission on Transportation

In the period 2004-2005 the Commission plans:

• Annual Meeting on 10-11 June 2004, Kaunas, Lithuania.
• Seminar on European Transport Projects in connection with the Annual Meeting.
• Evaluation of the questionnaire sent out during early autumn 2003.
• Development of the future working group for the leadership of the commission.
• Continue to develop the network in different ways.

12.     Commission on Urban Planning

ABC - ALLIANCEOF THE BALTIC CITIES

The ABC – project is a new start in the field of Urban Physical Planning and Public Design in the UBC Cities. It is a new step towards deepening the co-operation and a fine possibility to learn more from each other about possibilities, challenges and problems - and to see results as a built city environment.

The UBC Commission on Urban Planning prepared under the leadership of the City of Malmö an INTERREG III B application: ABC – ALLIANCE OF THE BALTIC CITIES II, A City Network Cooperation for Local Approaches to Regional Strategies.

The BSR Interreg III B Committee accepted the project in December 2002. EU will co-finance the project with max 255.957 EUR in the years 2003–2005. This money is the financial support to the participants from EU cities. The Estonian, Latvian and Polish cities and towns made their applications in 2003 to get financial support from EU Phare Fund, but they did not succeed.

The partners of the ABC – project are:
Sweden: Malmö, Umea, Kalmar, Sundsvall
Denmark: Aarhus, Kolding, Nyköping F
Estonia: Kärdla, Narva, Pärnu, Tartu, Viljandi
Finland: Helsinki, Espoo, Kotka, Lahti, Tampere, Turku, Vaasa
Germany: Rostock
Latvia: Jēkabpils, Jūrmala, Liepāja, Riga
Poland: Gdańsk, Gdynia, Szczecin
Malmö City Planning Department is the Lead Partner.

The ABC project includes six common seminars or project meetings:

- Kolding, Denmark April 2003
- Vaasa, Finland October 2003
- Liepāja, Latvia April 2004
- Viljandi, Estonia October 2004
- Gdynia, Poland April 2005
- Malmö, Sweden October 2005

The common seminars will be prepared in the Work Packages 1,2 and 3, led by the cities of Helsinki, Umea and Malmö. The Work Packages are responsible to prepare the common seminars in their joint meetings.

The common seminars are also open with certain terms to the participants from UBC member Cities, especially from the cities which belong to the network on the Commission on Urban Planning.

For this activity the ABC partner cities and towns will prepare applications to EU funds to receive financial help for their activities.

13.    UBC Women's Network

UBC Women’s Network will continue to promote women’s participation at all levels of co-operation within the Baltic Sea area building networks not only between the women’s organisations and the authorities in the Cities of UBC but also in order to create a “women’s lobby” towards the European Union. In its work it is using a twin-track strategy focusing both on gender mainstreaming and traditional channels. In line with international developments the strategy encompasses the promotion of gender mainstreaming adopted by United Nations as well as EU and UBC.

Focus areas
Trafficking and violence against women, building a women’s lobby within UBC.

Networking, meetings, seminars and projects
The network is open to women politicians as well as women working in the administration in the member cities. The contact is developed during UBC meetings, network-meetings, seminars and conferences and continuously with e-mail.

The network will be used to inform about issues, events and projects with the aim to keep the interest alive for gender equal societies and to enlarge women’s possibilities to participate in the social dialogue and politics.

During 2004-2005 Women’s Network aims to:
- encourage national and regional meetings of women involved in the UBC Network and UBC Women’s Network
- have two meetings in connection to UBC meetings
- to develop, work and participate in joint projects.
- to arrange one seminar (possibly in May in connection to Women’s Forum in Turku)

Cooperation with other partners
NGO’s are important partners for the UBC Women’s Network. In order to develop contacts and to forward gender related information to them the Network invites local women to its seminars and keeps on building connections between women in decision-making and women’s organisations locally and within the Baltic Sea Area.

Conclusions
Many problems need to be dealt with actively when Europe grows and internally becomes free and moves towards a common currency. Providing the Network assistance would enable it to actively answer project calls relating to these and other gender issues.

14. Network on Youth Issues

The tasks of the network are to promote youth co-operation in the Baltic Sea Region and to work towards youth involvement, youth exchange and youth participation in the UBC member cities.

It should serve as a basis for UBC contact persons on youth issues. The network builds upon existing youth networks of local youth structures as well as upon one youth organisation as a contact point in each member city. The network co-operates closely together with the Baltic Sea Secretariat for Youth Affairs, which is to become a consultative body for the network, as well as with the UBC Secretariat.

The Network will consist of young people as well as civil servants and politicians dealing with youth issues on the local level. Existing youth networks of the Baltic Sea Region will be taken into account. The Network will monitor the agenda of UBC from a youth perspective.

• Create a working group and a youth contact net within the Network on youth issues
• Lobby towards nomination of a youth contact officer in every UBC member city.
• Co-operate with the Baltic Sea Secretariat for Youth affairs in getting an overview of the activities of the local organisations in UBC member cities.
• Monitor the agenda and documents of the UBC from a Youth point of view

The focus of the annual conferences is on questions important for young people of the Baltic Sea Region. It represents a forum for young people of the UBC member cities as well as other cities willing to join in, to exchange experiences, finding partners and discuss common issues such as youth participation, EU and Baltic Sea- cooperation and youth influence on local levels. The conference is organised with regard to the UBC General Conference as well as to other for addressing youth issues in the Baltic Sea Region. In the framework of the conference youth representatives will be elected for the “Network on Youth issues”.

• Work towards a conference on local youth actions within UBC member cities in 2005.

The young people of the Baltic Sea Region consider it of great importance that the UBC Executive Board gets in contact with young people of every city they meet in, with the aim to learn about the views and ideas of the young generation concerning the life in and the future of that very city. We call upon the UBC Executive Board and the UBC Secretariat to work towards the Network on Youth issues”.

• The Network on youth issues should be active in finding ways and follow-ups for dialogue between the UBC Executive Board and young people in the region during the UBC meetings.

15.       UBC EU-Coordinators Network

There is a great difference on how municipalities handle EU issues. The aim should be mainstreaming of EU within municipalities, which means that each sector department in the municipal organisation deals directly with EU projects and has the necessary network and know-how how to do that.

However, only few municipalities have reached this far. Instead most have one person or a small department in the central municipal administration that supports EU initiatives in all or near all municipal departments, collects and informs about EU matters and is active in forming the EU policies of the municipalities. This person is the EU Co-ordinator. He/she has perhaps some other title and often does other things as well, perhaps associated with the international affairs of the municipality.

Sweden and Finland has national networks of EU Co-ordinators, Denmark has “regional" networks associated to one of the regional EU offices. The UBC EU-co-ordinators network should work as a complement to these networks, and perhaps support build-up of national networks in those countries that do not have them yet. 

The main tasks of the EU Co-ordinators network shall be

• To be a contact network between professionals in UBC member cities working with EU issues and EU policies
• To be a channel for exchange of information on EU from municipal perspective
• To be a resource for UBC in its role as policy organisation regarding EU policies in the Baltic Sea Region