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MINUTES
FROM THE 28TH MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE
BOARD OF THE UNION OF THE BALTIC CITIES
St.Petersburg, Russia, 16 June 2000
INTRODUCTION
The 28th meeting of the Executive Board
of the Union of the Baltic Cities was held on the 16 June 2000 in the City
of St.Petersburg, Russia, upon the invitation of Mr Vladimir Yakovlev,
Governor of St.Petersburg.
The first part of the meeting (closed session) was attended by the Members
of the Executive Board. The second part of the meeting (open session) was
open to all Member Cities.
- Opening of the meeting and adoption of the agenda.
The 28th meeting of the UBC Executive Board was opened by Mr Anders
Engström, the President of the Union. Mr Engström greeted all
participants and wished them a successful meeting.
Mr Gennadij Tkachev, Vice-Governor of St.Petersburg, welcomed all
delegates and wished them the fruitful discussions and a pleasant stay
in St.Petersburg.
- Election of two persons who, together with the President, will
check the minutes.
Ms Elena Ivanova, Expert in External Affairs Committee, St.Petersburg
and Ms Cay Sevon, Director of Communication Department, Turku, were
elected to check the minutes.
- UBC Action Plan.
President Anders Engström reminded that at the last Executive Board
meeting in Kemi the Board discussed the draft of the UBC Action Plan
2000-2001 consisting of two parts; first part concerning the Executive
Board, the Presidium and the Secretariat and second part concerning
UBC Commissions and Networks. Subsequently the draft of the Action
Plan was sent out for comments to the chairpersons of the UBC
Commissions and Networks. Mr Engström said that UBC Action Plan should
serve not only as internal but also as external document.
Mr Audun Øiestad, Bergen, also expressed an opinion that the Action
Plan should be widely used externally, for example when applying for
external project funding.
Mr Engström raised the question whether the Networks chairpersons
shall be appointed by the Networks or by the Board. After discussion
the Board decided that the Networks chairpersons shall be appointed by
the Executive Board.
President Engström said that the members of the Presidium should be
responsible for the following strategic questions in the Action Plan:
- The enlargement of the European Union in the
Baltic Sea Region - Vice-President Gentvilas
- implementation of Agenda 21 locally -
Vice-President Lahoniitty
- deepening cooperation with the BSR organisations
and networks - President Engström
- promotion the Local Authority Level with regards
to the Northern Dimension of the EU - Vice-President Lahoniitty
- possible new members from Belarus and other
regions outside the vicinity of the Baltic Sea Region -
Vice-President Gentvilas
- further strengthening of UBC organisation -
President Engström
Decision:
The Board adopted the Action Plan for 2000-2001.
Vice-President Eugenijus Gentvilas put forward an idea that UBC should
discuss the question how to stimulate better cooperation between the
cities and universities. The Board members expressed also an opinion
that UBC should arrange a seminar to discuss how cities, universities
and business should cooperate for the benefit of the citizens of the
Baltic Sea region. The Board authorised Mr Gentvilas to prepare for
the next Board meeting a background paper on cooperation between
cities and universities.
- UBC Internal Regulations.
President Engström reminded that the last Executive Board meeting held
on 1 April 2000 in Kemi adopted the UBC Internal Regulations. At the
meeting in Kemi the city of Rostock submitted a number of amendments
to the Regulations. The Board in Kemi asked the Secretariat and the
Presidium to analyse Rostock proposals and prepare a written proposal
to the next Board meeting. Mr Engström presented the proposal which
included most of amendments proposed by Rostock. Ms Petra Hamann
informed that Rostock supports President's amendments.
Decision:
The Board adopted the amendments submitted by the President.
- Application from Rostock re. the General Conference.
Ms Petra Hamann presented the preliminary calculation of the costs of
the next UBC General Conference to be held in Rostock on 12-13 October
2001. On behalf of the Mayor of Rostock Mr Arno Pöker, Ms Hamann
applied for 12.000 EURO contribution from UBC for the conference
organisation.
Decision:
The Board decided that the decision on the amount of UBC contribution
to the organisation of the General Conference in Rostock will be taken
in the beginning of 2001, when the UBC financial result for 2000 is
known. The Board decided that this year UBC will cover the costs of
printing of the conference invitations. The Board encouraged Rostock
to make all efforts to find sponsors for the General Conference.
OPEN SESSION
During the open session of the Executive Board meeting Mr Vladimir
Yakovlev, Governor of St.Petersburg, addressed the participants of the
meeting. Mr Yakovlev shortly introduced the city and presented the
major challenges and problems facing St.Petersburg. The Governor
wished all participants a fruitful debates and a pleasant stay in
St.Petersburg.
- Introduction of EUROCITIES network.
Mr Claus Schulze, East-West Coordinator of EUROCITIES, introduced the
Executive Board with the structure, aims and activities of his
organisation. Mr Schulze stressed the importance of cooperation between our
organisations, especially as regards joint lobbying in Brussels, which
should result in achieving common goals in shorter time.
The Board warmly thanked Mr Schulze for his presentation and expressed
hope for further close and mutually beneficial cooperation between the
UBC and EUROCITIES.
- Reports from the Commissions.
The following persons submitted reports on Commissions activities
since the V General Conference held in Stockholm on 24-25 September
1999.
Commission on Business Cooperation - Mr Erling Winther, Kolding
Commission on Culture - Mr Sławomir Szafrański, Szczecin
Commission on Environment - Mrs Cay Sevon, Turku
Commission on Health & Social Affairs - Mrs Petra Hamann, Rostock
Commission on Tourism - Mr Kyrre Dahl, Kalmar
Commissions on Education, Sport and Urban Planning were not
represented but provided the written reports.
President Anders Engström informed that regrettably the Commission on
Transportation has not provided any report. Mr Engström said, that to
his knowledge, the Commission had no activities at all, since the
General Conference in Stockholm.
Decision:
The Board took note of submitted reports. The Board expressed its
satisfaction on the activities carried out by the Commissions and
encouraged all Commissions to continue their important work.
The Board authorised Mr Maciej Lisicki, Gdańsk, to contact the
chairman of the Commission on Transportation and discuss to move the
leadership of the Commission to another UBC member city.
- Cooperation with LVRLAC.
President Engström informed that in April, the Secretary General and
UBC-EU Coordinator were sent by SIDA to Uganda to work out the
document pointing out the areas of future cooperation between UBC and
Lake Victoria Region Local Authorities Cooperation (LVRLAC). The
document named as 'cooperation agreement' has been produced. The
cooperation will include such issues as environmental management,
urban planning, budget preparation, personnel management, gender
equality, twinning arrangements etc. Also study tours in Baltic cities
for officials and politicians from LVRLAC member cities will be
carried out. In the end of April President Engström, together with
Vice-President Gentvilas, paid a visit to Uganda to sign the
cooperation agreement between UBC and LVRLAC. Mr Engström reminded
that all project costs are covered by SIDA and remuneration for the
UBC-EU Coordinator's work within the project will be transferred to
the UBC budget.
- Report from the UBC EU-Coordinator.
9.1 Latest information on UBC Interreg III initiative.
Mr Juhan Janusson, UBC EU Coordinator, stressed that currently the
main problem for cooperation on local level between east and west in
the Baltic Sea Region is the lack of funding opportunities for
multinational projects. The European Commission has terminated
programmes funding such projects ie. BSPF programme. UBC launched an
initiative to create a programme for cooperation between local and
regional authorities in the Baltic Sea Region. The programme should be
financed by Interreg III strand B. UBC EU Coordinator sent out a
questionnaire to all member cities asking cities to list the potential
projects that could be funded within the programme. President
Engström
asked all Board members to send a letter to the Ministries responsible
for Interreg III or Phare CBC in each country informing about UBC
initiative and asking to secure finances (from Interreg III B / Phare
CBC budgets) for projects to be carried out within UBC initiative. The
draft of the letter has been sent out to all members of the Board.
Decision:
The Board decided that all members of the Board should send mentioned
above letter to respective Ministries. The Board encouraged all member
cities to respond to the questionnaire sent out by the UBC EU
Coordinator.
9.2 UBC EU-Coordinators Network 2nd Seminar, Vilnius, 19-20 May.
Mr Juhan Janusson, on behalf of Ms Karin Wessman, leader of UBC
EU-Coordinators Network, reported from the 2nd network's seminar held
in Vilnius on 19-20 May 2000. The seminar was devoted to the
integration process to the European Union, with emphasis on the local
authority level. The seminar dealt with such issues as how to
influence the European Union, how to find the relevant information on
the accession process etc. The next seminar will be arranged on 29-30
September 2000 and shall deal with concrete project planning and the
application process to the EU.
- Baltic Cities Bulletin
2/2000
Secretary General Paweł Żaboklicki introduced the latest issue of the
UBC Baltic Cities Bulletin BCB 2/2000 devoted to Urban Planning
in Baltic Cities. Apart from the articles presenting urban
planning strategies and examples in UBC member cities, the bulletin
provides information on latest Union's meetings, activities and events
as well as news from the member cities. The bulletin is printed in
5000 copies and has been sent out to all member cities as well as to
numerous Baltic and European institutions and organisations including
the EU.
The Board urged the contact persons in all member cities to distribute
the bulletin among departments in each City Hall and send it to
various city institutions such as universities, libraries, ports,
chambers of commerce etc.
- Reports from other conferences attended by Union's
representatives.
The following delegates submitted reports from the conferences where
they represented the Union of the Baltic Cities:
- Urban Systems & Networking, Vilnius, 3-4
April 2000 - reported by Anders Engström on behalf of Lars
Malmborg
- CBSS Consultation on Northern Dimension, Oslo, 3
May 2000 - reported by Cay Sevon
- CBSS Working Group on Economic Cooperation, Oslo,
3-4 May 2000 - reported by Erling Winther
- The Nordic EU Convention,
Malmö, 9-10 May 2000 -
reported by Juhan Janusson
- EIBTM Tourist Fair, Geneva, 23-25 May 2000 -
reported by Juhan Janusson
- CBSS meeting on Cross-Border Cooperation,
Stockholm, 31 May 2000 - reported by Anders Engström
- Eurocities Working Group Meeting, Brussels, 7
June 2000 - reported by Juhan Janusson
- Baltic Youth Conference,
Lübeck, 15-16 June 2000
- reported by Anders Engstrom on behalf of Charlotte Petersson
The Board took note of the reports.
- Questions raised at the meeting.
Mr Engström informed that VASAB invited 33 UBC representatives to its
conference to be held in Meklemburg-Vorpommern on 20 November 2000.
The President asked the Board members to appoint three representatives
from each country. Mr Engström will provide the Board members with the
written information about the conference. Furthermore the President
proposed to create a working group consisting of the chairmen of the
Commissions on urban planning, transportation, environment, culture,
business and social affairs, chaired by Mr Lars Malmborg; the aim of
the group would be to contribute to the new VASAB 2010+ action plan.
The Board decided to create a working group on VASAB 2010+.
Mr Anatoly Jashkov, Head of the Territorial Board in Peterhof, made a
presentation introducing his town and warmly invited the participants
of the Board meeting to visit Peterhof.
- Next Meeting of the Executive Board.
Mr Erling Winther, on behalf of Mr Per Bødker Andersen, Mayor of
Kolding, warmly invited the Board Members to the next meeting of the
Executive Board to be held in Kolding,
on 4 November 2000.
- Closing of the Meeting.
Mr Anders Engström expressed his thanks to all
participants for the fruitful meeting and to the City of St.Petersburg
for its warm hospitality and closed the 28th Meeting of the Executive
Board of the Union of the Baltic Cities.
Mr Anders
Engström - Chairman
Mr Paweł Żaboklicki - Secretary
Ms Elena Ivanova - Adjuster
Ms Cay Sevon - Adjuster
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