31^st EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING IN MALBORK

The 31^st meeting of the UBC Executive Board was held on the 16^th of June 2001 in the City of Malbork, Poland, upon the invitation of Mieczyslaw Roeding, Mayor of Malbork.

100 Member Cities!

Pawel Zaboklicki, Secretary General, informed the Board about the applications for Union membership submitted by the cities of Paldiski and Berlin. The Board decided to accept Paldiski as 99^th member and Berlin as 100^th member of the UBC and wished them fruitful cooperation with other member cities.

VI General Conference

Arno Pöker, Mayor of Rostock, informed that following the suggestion of the Board, the conference keynote speeches will be followed by the panel discussion between the speakers. The Board expressed its satisfaction to the city of Rostock for the professional preparations to the VI General Conference.

Petra Hamann, Rostock, informed that working group led by Rostock prepared the first draft of the UBC Social Charter. The Charter includes the social goals for the UBC and its member cities. The Board decided the Charter shall be treated by the cities as a guideline and it is up to each city to follow the Charter.

EU Coordinator Juhan Janusson stressed that the conference resolution should deal with the most important questions concerning the UBC and BSR eg: cities involvement in the EU enlargement process; preparation of cities for EU membership; cities involvement in the implementation of Agenda 21 etc.

Risto Veivo, Turku, informed that the booklet introducing the conditions of the UBC environmental award 2001 contest was published and sent to all member cities. Cities are welcome to present successful practices which include environmental and social goals.

President Anders Engström put forward a question whether the UBC Presidium should be enlarged to four persons ie. the President and three VicePresidents. After discussion and voting the Board proposed the GC to make appropriate amendments in the UBC Statute in order to elect four members of the Presidium.

Mr Zaboklicki informed that the anniversary working group is preparing inter alia the following arrangements for the GC: anniversary colour booklet; exhibition of photographs; exhibition of children paintings and other.

Mr Engström proposed to hold during GC the seminar for city managers dealing with youth questions. He informed that Ina Werner, head of the Baltic Sea Secretariat for Youth in Kiel agreed to be involved in such seminar.

Action Plan 2000-2001

President Engström drew the conclusion that UBC has been active and successful in such areas as: EU enlargement in BSR; implementation of Agenda 21 locally; cooperation with Baltic organisations. President Engström admitted that UBC was not successful in the question of involving Belarus cities in the UBC work as well as in sufficient involvement of youth in the UBC activities.

New LA21 Action Program

Mr Veivo presented the first draft of the UBC LA21 Action Program 2002-2003. The total budget of projects proposed in the program equals to 2.5 MEURO. The new program will be adopted at the GC in Rostock.

Seminar for EU-Coordinators

Charlotte Pedersen informed that the 4^th Seminar for UBC EU-Coordinators was held in Kotka in May. During the seminar participants discussed how to develop the network. There were also interesting presentations showing how different cities deal with the EU matters.

UBC-LVRLAC cooperation

Mr Janusson informed that in April, fifteen high-level LVRLAC decision makers from the cities of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania had a study tour in the BSR. The tour concentrated on environmental issues. The representatives of LVRLAC visited the cities of Stockholm, Nacka, Turku, Kalmar, Gdynia and Gdansk. The group also visited UBC Secretariat in Gdansk and Secretariats of the Commissions on Environment (Turku) and Sport (Gdynia) in order to learn about UBC structure and activities.

Project proposals

The Board supported two proposals submitted by Rostock: Conference on Transport & Logistics in the BSR in 2002 and Hanseatic Sunshine Ride 2003.

Baltic Cities Bulletin on Youth

Pawel Zaboklicki introduced the last issue of Baltic Cities Bulletin devoted to "Youth in the BSR". The bulletin includes stories sent by member cities introducing projects, activities and events directed to youth and initiated by youth.

The Board decided to hold its 32^nd meeting in Rostock on 11 October 2001, on the eve of the VI UBC General Conference.

By Pawel Zaboklicki
UBC Secretary General