45^th UBC Executive Board Meeting in Kaunas

The Union of the Baltic Cities strives to be clearly heard in Brussels as one voice of 100 cities and the whole Baltic Sea region. European policy of the UBC has dominated the 45^th UBC Executive Board Meeting. 38 participants including Board members and invited guests gathered on 10-12 February in Kaunas, Lithuania, upon the invitation of the Mayor, Mr Arvydas Garbaravicius.

According to the decision of the previous Board Meeting at Chojnice, Poland, the UBC has continued lobbying on the future EU Cohesion Policy 3^rd objective - the European Territorial Cooperation, which is not suitable for the Baltic Sea cooperation in terms of proposed 150 km limit for cross-maritime-border cooperation and areas of common actions. As a result, UBC proposed to sign the 2^nd joint statement of Baltic Sea organisations on the European Territorial Cooperation. The statement was signed by UBC, B7 and BSSSC in March 2006. The Board decided to send it to the EU institutions and to the Baltic Sea states' governments. Additionally, in the autumn 2005, the Baltic organisations signed the common general paper on the EU Cohesion Policy 2007-2013.

Moreover, the working group on UBC s further development recommended Thnalising the issue of UBC representation in Brussels. Although most of member cities have their representatives in Brussels, they are not coordinated to speak on behalf of the Union. The Stockholm Region Office confirmed its readiness to function as a UBC's official antenna in Brussels. Thus, the UBC would have an opportunity to be closer to the European policy.

As far as the inside work of UBC is concerned, the Board discussed the idea of establishing a new commission - on energy. The representatives of the author of this proposal - city of Oskarshamn - Mr Stefan Windh and Mr Bengt Karlsson, presented the background for the initiative. The main objectives of the proposed commission will be i.a. renewable energy, exchanging best practices, education. The Board authorised Oskarshamn to send out the proposal to the UBC member cities.

Additionally, the UBC maritime logistics policy paper and results of the work of the UBC Logistics Task Force were presented at the meeting. The Board decided to send out the draft policy paper to the member cities for comments. The Board agreed that UBC should take part in discussion on the European maritime policy.

The Board also authorised the President to sign the memorandum of understanding with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). The memorandum of understanding includes several types of actions. On one hand UNITAR would assist our member cities in human resources development. On the other hand the experience of UBC member cities could be used in other countries. Furthermore, the Board decided to adopt the statement against trafficking submitted by Mrs Marie-Louise Rönnmark, the Mayor of Umea, as the trafficking of women and children is nowadays an increasingly important problem. The UBC during its 45^th Board Meeting welcomed also a new member - the city of Järvenpää, Finland. Last but not least, the UBC Action Plan 2006-2007 and budget for 2006 were adopted. The Board decided to hold its 46^th meeting in Kronshtadt/St.Petersburg on 10- 11 June 2006. The Board also decided to hold its autumn session in Gdynia.

More information on the 45^th Board Meeting, as well as the full text of the 2^nd Joint Statement are available on www.ubc.net.