III. Member Cities in Action

Teachers from Gdynia and  Karlskrona visited Baltijsk

Trilateral Schools Contacts

The Foreign Relations Department of the District Administration of Baltijsk together with a group of teachers from Chapman School in Karlskrona organized a visit to school 14 in Baltijsk for a group of colleagues from Chapman School and A. Mickiewicz School in Gdynia.
The guests were met with the national Bread-and-Salt custom, so the atmosphere of meetings between representatives of the three cities was very sincere. Baltijsk and Karlskrona have been twin-cities already more than 4 years. Contacts between Baltijsk and Gdynia have developed positively. The success of Gdynia in development of international relations excites our constant and growing interest.
The visit of teachers from Gdynia and Karlskrona to Baltijsk was a result of development of our good neighbour relations. Among the many interesting topics for a dialogue was the experience of running a versatile training in Chapman School, the international experience of schools, expansion of opportunities to study languages and international questions, creation a Museum -laboratory "Ecology of the Baltic Sea" at school 14 of Baltijsk. Chapman School and A. Mickiewicz School have already established partner relations and carry out an international exchange of teachers and pupils groups. Friendly relations connect the Swedish teachers and teachers from a school in Klaipėda. Probably the Baltijsk School will become the next element in a growing network of schools in the Baltic Sea area.

EU Summits in Baltic Cities 

EU Presidency rotates between the EU members. Finland holds the EU presidency the second half of 1999, and Sweden will hold it in 2001. Tampere and Nykoping have had and will have important meetings on top European level on those occasions.
The first EU-summit under Finnish presidency was held in Tampere. In addition to the Special European Council 15-16 October, Tampere hosted three ministerial meetings and six other conferences linked to the EU-presidency.
Tampere offered a unique conference venue for all EU-meetings. Most of them took place in Vapriikki Museum Centre. European ministers and heads of states met inside the red brick walls, where locomotives and 

paper machines were manufactured only a few years ago.
The Informal Foreign Ministers' Meeting is one of the most important ministerial meetings during Sweden's presidency year 2001. Nyköping will host opportunity to put Nyköping on the world map and spread the message that all visitors receives a warm welcome here. Although no formal decisions will be taken, ministers will draw up important frameworks for future EU policy.
In addition to the foreign delegations accompanying the ministers, Nyköping will play host to more than 500 journalists from all over Europe.
The choice of Nyköping for the Foreign Ministers' Meeting fits in exceptionally well with the strategy to market Nyköping as the Banqueting Town that warmly welcomes visitors.

Twinning Link Gdynia-Liepāja 

Gdynia now also has a Latvian city as member of the Baltic Ring of Gdynia Twin Cities. Liepāja is a Baltic port and the third largest city in Latvia.
The main aim of the project "Presentation of the city and region of Liepāja" was to present the potential of both cities and to sign the agreement on cooperation. The Phare Small Project Fund contributed financially. A group of 29 people from Liepāja participated in the project.
The presentation of Liepāja enabled all to get to know the economic, cultural and scientific potential of that city.
Representatives of specific

departments of the City Hall of Gdynia and the City Council of Liepāja were present during individual meetings aimed at exchange of experiences, getting to know the structure and functions and search for common fields of cooperation in the future.
The project was carried out during the 1st International Fair "Euroregion Baltic Expo'99", organised in the exhibition centre World Trade Centre Gdynia-Expo. The cover themes of the fair were tourism, ecology, culture and economy.