36th Executive Board Meeting in Umea

The 36^th meeting of the UBC Executive Board was held on the 28-29 March 2003 in the City of Umea, Sweden, upon the invitation of Ms Marie Luise Ronnmark, Mayor of Umea. The first part of the meeting (closed session) was attended by the Members of the Executive Board. The 2^nd part of the meeting (open session) was open to all Member Cities.

New member cities
The Board decided to accept the cities of Orebro, Gavle and Lulea as new members of the UBC. It was also decided to grant the city of Grodno the observer status. The Board wished all the mentioned above new cities a fruitful cooperation with other UBC members.

VII General Conference
Ms Ina Sidlauskiene informed about the status of preparations to the VII UBC General Conference in Klaipeda, 17-19 October 2003. She informed that the conference organising committee chaired by the Mayor Rimantas Tarasievicius had been established. Klaipeda City Council allocated the necessary financial means for the GC budget. Invitations to VIPs in Lithuania have been sent out and several confirmations received among them from the Prime Minister of Lithuania.

Mr Pawel Zaboklicki presented the draft programme of the General Conference. The first conference day will be fully devoted to the conference theme: "The Baltic Sea Wave - Business Development in the New Europe". The second day of the conference will be devoted to the UBC internal matters such as reports, elections, finances, etc.

2^nd Northern Dimension Action Plan
Mr Juhan Janusson reminded that UBC was requested by the CBSS to submit ideas and proposals to the 2^nd NDAP 2004-2006. He informed that UBC contribution to NDAP has been prepared and sent to the CBSS. CBSS forwarded UBC contribution to the European Commission. The Board underlined the importance of UBC involvement in the NDAP.

UBC policy on sponsoring
President Andersen informed the Board that several applications for sponsorship were sent to large companies operating the BSR. Vice-President Lahoniitty informed that he had applied for sponsorship to the energy company Fortum and the application had been treated positively. Fortum decided to sponsor UBC with 20.000 EUR within the two-year period.

Financial matters
Mr Zaboklicki informed that UBC financial report for 2002 has been sent to all member cities. The report brings the details on: UBC incomes and expenditure; fees paid by member cities; expenditure of UBC Commissions; cities contributions to the secretariats; UBC projects with external funding; cities contributions to the UBC events. Subsequently SG presented the estimated budget for 2003. The Board adopted the report and the budget. The Board authorised the SG to submit the proposal of new membership fees at the next Board meeting.

Commissions meeting
The leaders of UBC Commissions and Networks held a working meeting in connection with the Board meeting. The leaders submitted activity reports from the period June 2002 - February 2003. The Board praised the Commissions and Networks for their active work and encouraged them to continue their important tasks.

Guest speakers
Mr Hans F. Gronwall, Ambassador in the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, introduced the Swedish policy towards the Baltic Sea region. Ambassador Hannu Halinen, Director of the CBSS Secretariat, presented an overview of the most important issues for the BSR, the CBSS is currently working with. The Board thanked the distinguished guests for their important contributions and expressed UBC readiness to closer cooperation.

UBC Social Charter
Ms Karin Wohlgemuth, informed about the latest developments concerning the implementation of the UBC Social Charter, adopted at the VI General Conference in Rostock in 2001. She emphasized that Social Charter had been translated to all 10 Baltic languages and sent out to all UBC member cities.

UBC in Brussels
Ms Krista Taipale-Salminen informed the Board about the presence of UBC member cities in Brussels. 44 UBC cities are represented in Brussels by 21 Regional European Offices. Ms Salminen underlined that there is already existing base for building up a network of UBC European Offices in Brussels which could provide support and promotion of UBC interests in Brussels.

"Dreams Without Limits"
Ms Ewa Depka, Gdynia, reminded that 2003 had been declared by the Council of European Union as European Year of People with Disabilities. Having this in mind, Ms Depka proposed to organise an International Drawing Competition for the disabled children from UBC member cities, entitled "Dreams Without Limits". The final of the competition will take place on 2 July 2003 in the city of Gdynia.

The Board decided to hold its 37^th meeting in the City of Rostock, Germany, on 18 June 2003.