UBC Women's Network Meeting "Women Networking in the Baltic Sea Region" at the 2^nd Annual Baltic CBSS NGO Forum in St Petersburg 18.-21 April.

All nations of the Baltic Sea region have strong cultural, historical and economical ties, yet clear differences involving questions of equality can be found. Equality related NGOs play an important role to overcome this, providing the Baltic Sea Region with a civil society, where the realisation of equal rights for all women and men could be possible.

The 2^nd Annual Baltic CBSS NGO Forum was therefore a natural forum for the City of Turku, Finland, to organise the first UBC Women's Network Meeting, as the City of Turku has taken over the responsibility for the co-ordination of UBC Women's Network. The formal decision was made in Rostock at the VI General Conference of the UBC 12.-13 October 2001. On the suggestion of Hjördis Höglund from Sundsvall, Sweden, the founder of the Network, and in agreement with the City of Turku it was decided at the conference that Ulla Lundqvist would be the new co-ordinator for the UBC Women's Network. Ulla Lundqvist represents the Women's Centre Femina Aboensis in Turku, an organisation that for years already has been actively creating networks for NGOs around the Baltic Sea Region.

The theme for the UBC Women's Network's 2-hour round-table meeting was "Women Networking in Municipalities in the Baltic Sea Region". The chair was hold by Sirpa Ruisniemi from Femina Aboensis - Turku Women's Centre. Ulla Lundqvist was the secretary. 26 women, mostly from St Petersburg but also from Finland and Estonia, took part in the meeting.

On behalf of Armas Lahoniitty, the Mayor of the City of Turku and the 1. Vice-President in UBC, Mikko Lohikoski, Director of External Affairs and Communication, City of Turku, opened the meeting stressing the importance of developing a gender equality policy that comes as near as possible to the ordinary citizen. Mikko Lohikoski stressed the importance to get a recommendation to the cities to appoint women representant to participate in the gender equality work of UBC Women's Network. He also expressed the wish of the City of Turku to support UBC Women's Network in it's work and suggested that the Network should try to use all possible events for meetings. He mentioned as suitable occasions the 3^rd Annual CBSS NGO Forum in Turku 8.-11.5.2003 under the theme "Common Human Values" as well as during the Turku week in St Petersburg's Anniversary 27^th of May 2003.

Irina Kouzmenko, Project Manager at the Nordic Council of Ministers' St Petersburg office told about the Gender Equality projects in North West Russia, that NCM manages. The Main Specialist for the Sector of Realisation of Human Rights, Assistant in the St Petersburg City Department of Equal Rights, Ekaterina Evgenjevna Kurocjkina, gave an interesting overview about the legislation and situation in Russia. Galina Moldon, UBC Women's Network's contact person, from the City of Narva and Jekaterina Jegortseva representing Sillamäe Women's club Raduga, spoke about the important work that women's organisations have done and the importance of women's networks in general for Eastern Estonia. Eija Nurmi, the chairperson of Femina Aboensis , with a long experience of Council Membership in the City of Raisio, stressed the importance of political co-operation between women in Community Council work, and said that in her town they have got results, that "cannot be valued in money terms".

Because the time was limited, the UBC Women's Network co-ordinator, Ulla Lundqvist shortly referred to the visions by Mikko Lohikoski for the Network's meetings to be hold at all suitable occasions, and stressed the importance that first of all the question for the financing of the meetings should be solved.

The chair Sirpa Ruisniemi suggested, that a group be formed to work on the Action Plan together with a paper of recommendation, to be ready to be presented by the City of Turku and the UBC Women's Network at the Board Meeting in Viljandi, Estonia, 7.-8^th of June 2003. The meeting agreed and chose from the participant's at the meeting Galina Moldon, Narva, Estonia and Svetlana Skornjakova and Julia V. Zhukova from St Petersburg, who with Petra Hamann, Rostock, Ingegärd Ångström , Nacka, Sweden, and the UBC Women's Network's co-ordinator, Ulla Lundqvist, should prepare the documents needed.

Svetlana Skornjakova is the Cairman of St Petersburg's Women's Parliament and Juliana V. Zhukova researcher at Novikoff Forschungscentrum and also a journalist who already seven years has followed up gender equality issues.

All the women present at the meeting represented important social sectors in the society and continued after the meeting to take part in the Forum Programme to give their equality perspective to their respective sectors. 

Further information:
Ms Ulla Lunqvist
Co-ordinator UBC Women's Network 
Women's Centre, Nylandsgatan 6a
20500 Turku, Finland
Tel +358 2 233 6172, Fax +358 2 233 6174
E-mail: ulla.lundqvist@daous.fi

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