48^th Board met in Gävle

The preparations to the coming UBC A. General Conference in Pärnu was one of the main topics of the 48^th meeting of the Executive Board which was held on 9 March 2007 in Gävle, Sweden, upon the invitation of Ms Carina Blank, the Mayor of Gävle.

The participants were acquainted with the information on invited keynote speakers and proposed themes, as well as on the venue of the conference. The discussion resulted in formulating three main themes to be raised during the Conference: "Cities response to the climate change", "Culture as a driving force for municipal development" and "Involvement of youth in democracy and in the life of society".

Additionally, Mr Zaboklicki informed that in parallel with the GC, the youth conference entitled "Under the Surface" will be held in Parnu. The conference will be organised by the UBC Commission on Youth Issues within the project "Different History - Common Future - youth as a resource in the Baltic Sea Region" funded from the EU "Youth" Programme. Mr Vilis Bruveris, representing the Commission on Youth Issues, informed the Board about the plan of the youth conference and possible interactions between both conferences.

As far as the EU policy is concerned, Ms Jessica Rabenius, Stockholm Region Office in Brussels, presented the European Commission's work programme in 2007, priorities of the German Presidency, perspectives in 2008 and the EU related funding possibilities.

The Board's members were also informed that first draft of the UBC contribution to the Green Paper on European Maritime Policy was prepared by the city of Turku and the work on the position paper will be continued.

During the meeting in Gävle, new UBC members were accepted: city of Slupsk, Poland and the city of Gargzdai, Lithuania. Moreover, the Board adopted the budget for 2007.

The Board took also decisions concerning two networks. Namely, the UBC Network on Gender Equality was transformed into the Commission on Gender Equality with Umea as the lead city, and the EU-coordinators Network was reactivated with Rostock as a leader.

The next, 49^th Board meeting will be organised in Jekabpils, Latvia, on 15 June 2007.