20 years of cooperation

If we all had the same thoughts, ideas and experience, there would be no need for cooperation. The quotation of former US General Patton (1885-1945) describes the foundation for cooperation across national boarders and city limits. The Union of the Baltic Cities (UBC) is no exception. Its aim is to promote and strengthen cooperation and exchange of experience among the cities in the Baltic Sea Region, to advocate for common interests of the local authorities in the region, and to act on behalf of the cities and local authorities in common matters towards regional, national, European and other international bodies. The member cities participate because they all want development in the world that is constantly changing.

Since its establishment in 1991 with only 32 member cities, UBC has shown a significant growth. Today, UBC is a proactive network mobilizing the shared potential of over a 100 member cities from all 10 nations surrounding the Baltic Sea. Kristiansand has been a membercity since its beginning in 1991, and is proud to be a part of the Union's 20^th anniversary. Kristiansand has been active in several commissions, i.e. Commission on Sport, Health and Social Affairs and Youth Issues. It has been challenging. interesting and instructive, including the amazing opportunity to visit and explore different cities in the Baltic Sea Region. The membership in the Union has resulted in several projects and cooperation activities with other member cities, i.e. Gdynia, Umeå and Narva. Kristiansand has worked several years with Narva mainly on two projects. First, a few years ago a delegation from Narva visited Kristiansand and introduced an idea of a common project in the framework of the EEA and Norwegian mechanisms. The purpose of the project was to strengthen the administrative capacity of local governments and assist in improving the quality of public services.This was facilitated through exchange of experience and benchmarking between the local governments of Narva and Kristiansand. Kristiansand hosted 10 small delegations from Narva local government to study tourism, youth issues, environmental issues, planning, etc. The second project included the training of social workers. Four social workers came to Kristiansand to observe, learn and acquire new knowledge about new technology and practice.

"If everyone is thinking alike then somebody isn't thinking"
George S. Patton

In a political and economic context, things have changed considerably since 1991. The UBC has played an important role all those years. Kristiansand believes that the UBC can continue to facilitate cooperation, exchange of good practices and stimulate further changes. To do that the UBC itself must change to adapt to the rapid changes in the world around us. It has been 20 interesting and inspiring years. Congratulations to all of us, members of the UBC!