EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Pawel Zaboklicki
EDITING & LAYOUT
Iwona Smigerska-Belczak
EDITORIAL BOARD
Risto Veivo
Viktors Buls
Ewa Kurjata
Pawel Zaboklicki
Iwona Smigerska-Belczak
PUBLISHER
Union of the Baltic Cities
Secretariat
Waly Jagiellonskie 1
PL-80853 Gdansk
POLAND
tel. +48 58 3010917
tel. +48 58 3019123 fax +48 58 3017637
e-mail: info@ubc.net
www.ubc.net
ISSN 1506-6266
PROOF-READING
Ewa Kurjata
COVER PICTURE
Port of Turku
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Dear UBC Friends,
Our
VIII General Conference in Turku is approaching. The
conference will be held on 29 September- 2 October
2005. The General Conference will deal with the issues
vital for the Baltic Sea Region such as logistic corridors,
EU budget and its implications for the BSR, good governance,
competitiveness, good neighbourhood policies, human
contacts in the B SR, etc. We have invited a number
of high-level speakers who will address those important
topics.
Transport and logistics
issues will be one of the key items. UBC realises
that modern port and land transportation infrastructure,
coordinated with maritime transport, is crucial for
the development of the BSR. This bulletin brings up
the information about numerous projects aiming at
improvement of intermodal transport network in the
Baltic Sea area.
In connection with
our conference the following events shall also take
place: meeting of the Committee of Senior Officials
of the CBSS, the coordination meeting of Baltic Sea
organisations and a seminar of Baltic Region Healthy
Cities Association. The Saturday, 1 October will be
devoted to the internal UBC matters such as reports,
elections, finances, etc.
On the UBC's initiative,
the major Baltic Sea organisations, namely B7, BSSSC,
CPMR-BSC, UBC, decided to send to the European Commission
a joint statement on the objective 3 of the reformed
Cohesion Policy 2007-2013 (European Territorial Cooperation).
The statement emphasizes that the proposed introduction
of a maximum distance of 150 km of maritime border
- to be eligible to obtain funding for cross-border
projects - is counter-creative to the very idea of
strengthening the territorial cooperation, and therefore
we object to it.
We expect from the
European Commission a more flexible approach, taking
into account existing cooperation in various fields
between the partners on both sides of maritime border
as well as historical, social, cultural and economic
factors which justify cooperation across larger distance
than mentioned above. I have sent this statement also
to all prime ministers of our 10 Baltic Sea countries.
I do hope all our governments will strongly take up
this issue during the negotiations in Brussels on
the new Cohesion Policy.
I have also sent
out a letter to all member cities asking them to express
their views how we can make our own organisation,
the UBC, even stronger. A year ago, on 1 May we have
experienced a significant historical moment - the
Baltic Sea Region became almost an inland sea of the
European Union. This fact will have a strong positive
impact on further development of our region and it
must have an impact on the activities of the UBC.
The EU enlargement
in the BSR brings new opportunities and challenges
to the UBC. How to promote effectively exchange of
experiences between member cities ? How to enhance
the work of our commissions and mobilise more outside
funding ? How to ensure that concerns of our cities
are listened to at national governments and in Brussels
? I received a number of ideas from the cities, for
example: UBC could improve lobbying in Brussels by
using the cities representation offices; gender balance
is needed in the UBC authorities and commissions;
less effective commissions could be incorporated by
the effective ones, etc.
I look forward to
your further ideas on the directions for the UBC development.
I also look forward to meeting delegates of all UBC
member cities at the VIII UBC General Conference in
Turku !
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Per Bodker Andersen
President
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Kolding, May 2005
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