MINUTES FROM THE 5th MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD

OF THE UNION OF THE BALTIC CITIES

KLAIPEDA, 13 FEBRUARY 1993

INTRODUCTION

The fifth meeting of the Executive Board of the Union of the Baltic Cities was held on 13 February, 1993 in Klaipėda, Lithuania.

The Meeting was attended by representatives of the Baltic Cities as well as invited persons.

The meeting was opened by Mr Anders Engström, the President of the Union; the welcome address was given by Mr Benediktas Petrauskas, the Mayor of the City of Klaipėda.

OPENING OF THE MEETING AND ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA

The Meeting adopted the agenda.

ELECTION OF TWO PERSONS WHO, TOGETHER WITH THE PRESIDENT, WILL CHECK THE MINUTES

Mr Arnolds Ubelis from Riga and Ms Nijole Pozarskiene from Klaipėda were elected to check the minutes.

WORK OF THE COMMISSIONS:

New division of the Commissions.

Decision:

The Executive Board decided to create a new division of working Commissions. Commission on Cultural and Social Affairs has been split into two commissions - on Cultural Affairs and on Social Affairs.

From now the Union has as its basis the following five working commissions:

- Commission on Cultural Affairs (lead cities: to be nominated)

- Commission on Environment Protection (lead cities: Aarhus, Turku)

- Commission on Social Affairs (lead cities: Lübeck, Rostock)

- Commission on Telecommunication (lead cities: Kalmar, Riga)

- Commission on Transportation (lead cities: Gdańsk, Kaliningrad)

In the future all UBC Member Cities will be invited to take part in the meetings of the Commissions. The lead cities are supposed to inform all Member Cities in advance about forthcoming meetings.

Report from the Commissions, projects related to the work of the Commissions.

"Fax and Memosystem" Project. Application to EC, UN and CEMR concerning the necessary funds to carry out the project has been made. At present the response to the application is being expected.

"Baltic Sustainable Cities Programme". Accordingly to the decision of 4th Meeting of Executive Board Mr President and Secretary of the Union together with representatives of the lead cities are considering the most suitable cities which according to the Programme will obtain the Nordic counterparts providing assistance and expertise concerning planning capacities as well as implementation of specific projects.

"Steps and Aims" Project. In accordance with the decision of 4th Executive Board Meeting in Gdańsk the Union of the Baltic Cities has applied to the EC for economical means to carry out the project. At present the response to the application is being expected.

Resolution:

After presentation of the reports on actual state of the projects development the Board authorized responsible Cities and persons to carry out their work under the control of the President and Secretary.

Concrete proposals from the Commissions.

Swedish state will support the Union budget with approximately 20.000 USD if other Scandinavian countries and Germany proceed in analogical way. Secretary of the Union will provide the member cities with an information based on talks made by President and containing all the details.

Resolution:

President and Secretary will prepare an application for administration money contribution for the UBC. Afterwards, the following members of UBC Executive Board will send the applications regarding financial support: Aarhus, Kristiansand, Rostock, Sundsvall, Turku.

Information by the Secretary

Booklet, Newsletter 3, Electronic Mail.

Accordingly to the point 5.1 of the 4th Meeting of UBC Executive Board in Gdańsk the Secretary of the Union submitted the text of the Booklet. The Meeting agreed that after the justification by the President of the Union the Booklet will be printed in amount of 2000 copies.

Furthermore the Secretary of the Union Mr Piotr Krzyżanowski presented the new issue of Newsletter No 3 containing among the others information from Member Cities: Kaliningrad, Klaipėda and Lübeck. It has been also underlined that Union has recently started the cooperation with the Council of Europe, Coalition Clean Baltic, Baltic Institute of Sweden in Karlskrona and Center for Local Economic Strategies.

It has been decided that the next issue of the Newsletter will be printed especially on the occasion of High Level Conference on Resource Mobilization, Gdańsk, 24-25 March 1993.

What is concerning the Electronic Mail Project Union's Secretary informed that a new telecommunication link with Kaliningrad has been set into motion recently. Subsequently a new connection with Klaipėda is planned to be installed in the nearest future.

The board decided:

- to authorize the Secretary to supervise Booklet's printing,

- to publish an extra issue of the Union's Newsletter on the occasion of Conference on Resource Mobilization,

- to appoint the Secretariat to guide the work on Electronic Mail project.

Financial report.

The Secretary of the Union Mr Piotr Krzyżanowski presented the financial report of the Union for the year 1992.

The contributions from 19 UBC Member Cities (478.720.200 z») and the contribution from Gdańsk (360.000.000 z» for the renting of the Secretariat's Office and salaries of Secretariat's staff) have been a main source of the Union's income. The expenditures in 1992 equaled 292.296.520 z», the left amount equaled 192.601.780 z».

Other matters:

Cross border formalities.

Accordingly to the decision of 4th Executive Board Meeting in Gdańsk appointed Members appealed to their responsible authorities for speeding up the normalization of cross-border formalities between Baltic Countries for the benefit of the developing economies and promotion of cultural contacts between populations living in those countries.

Decision:

After presentation of the reports from individual Board Members on cross-border formalities it was decided that appointed Member Cities will continue the activities on that issue keeping permanent contacts with state authorities.

Art Festival in Kaliningrad.

Decision:

It has been decided that those member cities which are planning to send their representatives on Festival may contribute the Festival organization either by transferring the money or declaring gifts in kind. Meeting also decided to urge the members to consider the possibility for their participation in the festival.

NEXT MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD

Decision:

According to the invitation of Mr Vitaly Shipov the Mayor of the City of Kaliningrad, on behalf of the Kaliningrad City Authorities, the next Meeting of the Executive Board was scheduled on 6-7 June 1993 in association with the International Art Festival in Kaliningrad.

Future work of UBC Executive Board

The President of the Union, Mr Anders Engström proposed as follows:

- information about the following meeting is to be sent to all UBC Member Cities two month before the meeting,

- theme proposals that will be discussed at the following Board Meeting are to be sent by each UBC Member to the Union's Secretariat latest one month before the meeting,

- the proposals with Secretariat's comments are to be distributed to the members of UBC Executive Board one week before the meeting.

Decision:

The Board supported Mr Engström's proposals.

NEXT GENERAL CONFERENCE, ELECTIONS

The next General Conference is going to be held on 24-25 September 1993 in Kaliningrad, Russia. The Conference will be dominated by the issues related to the matter of Baltic Sea environment protection.

Preliminary invitations for the Conference are to be sent to all UBC Member Cities on 5th of May, 1993. Final invitations with information about the program of the Conference, registration fee, travel connections etc. are to be distributed in the beginning of June. Registration forms ought to be sent to Kaliningrad in the middle of August.

Secretary of the Union will prepare the following documents for the Conference:

- Basic Document

- Financial Report

- Budget for the next period

- Program of UBC future activities

City of Kaliningrad as a host of the Conference will organize contacts with the UBC Executive Board members regarding the procedural matters. Afterwards the Board members will contact other member cities in their countries. Kaliningrad will contact the city of St. Petersburg to discuss the matter of their membership in the Union and will inform the next Executive Board Meeting about talks results.

Decision:

The next General Conference of the Union will be held on 24-25 September in Kaliningrad. The Board assigned the Secretary together with the city of Kaliningrad to organize the Conference.

Elections to the Union of the Baltic Cities are to take place during the Conference.

OTHER MATTERS

Women's Conference.

Women's Labour Market and Their Conditions of Living will be a subject of the Conference. The Conference will take place in Kaliningrad on 13-15 May 1993. UBC Executive Board asks all Cities to send women delegations for the Conference (2 women per each city). Participation fee has been calculated on 200 USD.

Decision:

Ms Nadezhda Lazareva and Ms Hjördis Höglund were authorized by the Board Members to supervise the Conference organization.

Other proposals from the Member Cities sent to the Secretariat.

Secretariat received an invitation for the conference "Contemporary Ceramics: Links of National and International" to be held in Panevėžys, Lithuania, 20-21 July 1993 as a part of the International Ceramic Symposium, Panevezys-93. The topic for the conference is proposed in expectation to discuss regional and international trends, the two main creative directions in ceramics of the end of the 20th century.

Decision:

The Board decided that invitations for the participation in Panevėžys Conference are to be sent to all UBC member cities.

Tallin informed about various social activities going on in the city and declared its interest in joining commission on Social Affairs. Tallin also declares its assistance with preparation of grant applications and expresses its interest in motorways development.

Report on Environmental Youth Camp in Riga.

Mr Anders Engström informed that 53 citizens of the Baltic Sea Region from Member Cities of the Union participated in last year Environmental Youth Summer Camp in Riga. Young people from different countries had an opportunity to meet, get to know each other, learn about environmental problems of the region and do some practical work for the environment. Mr Engström underlined that camp was a success, both in accordance with the aim of participants learning to know each other and the result of the practical work. Mr President also informed that according to the report from Summer Camp in Riga there will be two Youth Summer Camps in 1993 sponsored by the Nordic Council.

Conference on transport issues.

In accordance with the completion of work on TEM-Scandinavia Project the Conference on Trans European Motorway is to be held in Gdańsk on 27th of May 1993.

Decision:

The Board decided that Mr Sture Nachtweij from Kalmar City Council, Mr Piotr Krzyżanowski Secretary of the Union and the City of Karlskrona are responsible for the Conference organization. UBC Member Cities from Poland, Sweden and Norway will participate at the Conference.

The Third Parliamentary Conference of Baltic and Nordic Countries.

The Conference will be held in Warsaw on 3-5 June 1993. Possibilities of cooperation development (culture, youth matters etc.) between Coastal Baltic Sea Regions and joint strategy in Baltic Sea Environment Protection will be the main issues of the conference. The President of the Union will take part at the Conference.

Decision:

The Board decided that Mr Anders Engström will present a report from the Conference.

Report on participation in Helcom.

The Secretary of the Union informed that in the beginning of this year the Union has been laid down with a new responsibility when it was granted with an observer status in the Helsinki Commission Programme Implementation Task Force. The Union has also its essential role in the implementation of the Baltic Sea Joint Comprehensive Environmental Action Programme since, recognizing that the Programme will be implemented over a period of at least twenty years, it is important that city-to-city linkages will be developed with a long-term perspective.

On 24-25 March 1993 the City of Gdańsk will be a place of High Level Conference on Resource Mobilization aimed at gaining the funds to implement the Baltic Programme. The President and the Secretary of the Union will participate at the Conference.

Report on participation in the Conference arranged by the Finnish Association of Communities.

The Baltic Sea Conference is to be held in Helsinki on September 1-3, 1993. The Conference will be organized by the Finnish Association of Communities. Problems of Baltic Sea Environment Protection will be the main issue of the Conference.

On the occasion of the Conference the ECOCITY exhibition and contact forum on the Baltic Sea Area Environment is to be held. Enterprises acting in the field of environment protection are welcome to participate in the exhibition.

Journalists training.

The Board emphasized the need for supplementary education for journalists from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Russia.

Decision:

President of the Union and Union's Secretary were assigned to apply to the Swedish National Department of Education for organization of such training for selected group of journalists from above mentioned countries on the assumption that all organization costs will be covered by Swedish authorities.

Personnel training in telecommunications matters.

The Board states that the insufficient knowledge about contemporary telecommunication systems disturbs in contacts between citizens and institutions of Baltic States and stresses a need of education for telecommunication employees.

Decision:

President and Secretary of the Union were assigned to apply for finances required to organize the training for the heads of telecommunication offices in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Russia.

Training for the leaders of study circles.

The Board discussed the need of widely spread educational action for the societies of the former socialist countries. Mr President briefly presented Swedish study circles educational system, based on voluntary regulations.

Decision:

President and Secretary of the Union were assigned to apply to the Swedish authorities for appropriate financial means to organize the training for suitable persons from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Russia.

Application for administration money contribution for the UBC.

See point 3.3 of this report.

Others.

Mr Arnolds Ubelis represented Union of the Baltic Cities during the ICLEI Conference on Environmental Cooperation in the Region of the Baltic Sea, held in Riga on 8-9 February, 1993. In his speech Mr Ubelis informed the participants about Union's activities on Environmental Protection field at the Baltic Sea region.

Riga foundation ICVEA is urging UBC Member Cities to respond to the proposal of cooperation.

The City of Kaliningrad informed about the cooperation with the World Bank concerning the problem of public utilities.

The City of Sundsvall informed the Secretariat about organization of the Trade Fair in 1994. The Fair will be organized by the local merchant companies.

Sundsvall also informs about publishing of the handbook titled "We Can Do It!" from the Conference on Supportive Environments and 3rd International Conference on Health Promotion, Sundsvall, 10-15 June 1991.

The Chairman of the Meeting, Mr Anders Engström, expressed his thanks to the City of Klaipėda for the hosting of the delegation and closed the fifth meeting of the Union of the Baltic Cities.

Mr Anders Engström                                      Ms Nijole Pozarskiene

Chairman                                                       Adjuster

Mr Piotr Krzyżanowski                                    Mr Arnolds Ubelis

Secretary                                                       Adjuster