Dear UBC Friends,

I would like to inform you that I am resigning from my position as the Chairperson of the Commission on Culture from the beginning of the year 2012. It is with a heavy heart that I must say goodbye to all my friends in the UBC, but due to my new job at the Regional Council of Ostrobothnia I will no longer be able to be as active in the Commission on Culture's work as I have been until now.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank all of you for your support and cooperation. During the years I have learnt a lot and benefited greatly from your experience. I would especially like to thank the board members and secretary of CoC (Agrita, Olga, Charlotte, Björn, Kim and Maarit) and Pawel, Anna and Anna in the UBC secretariat in Gdansk. I will surely miss working with all of you, as for me the Union of the Baltic Cities is not only an international organization for cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region but also a special group of friends. I really enjoyed being a part of it and I hope that we can still remain in touch in the future.

I would like to introduce you the new Chairperson of the Commission on Culture. Ms Lone Leth Larsen (lola@kolding.dk) from Kolding will take over my responsibilities. The new elected Vice-Chairperson is Ms Jaana Simula (jaana.simula@pori.fi) from Pori. Ms Ninni Berggren-Magnusson (ninniberggren@yahoo.se) from Gävle works now on as a secretary of the Commission on Culture. I wish them good luck and all the best in their duties.

Once again thank you all for everything. I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a great deal of success in the future.

Best regards,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tarja Hautamäki

Kulturchef ~ Kulttuuripäällikkö ~ Cultural Manager
Österbottens förbund ~ Pohjanmaan liitto ~ The Regional Council of Ostrobothnia
PB 174 ~ PL 174 ~ P.O. Box 174
FIN-65101 Vasa-Vaasa
Tel. +358 6 3206542
Mob. +358 44 7235007
www.obotnia.fi