Baltic cities for economic and climate solutions -
a developed Baltic Sea Strategy

222 participants, including mayors, city executives, representatives of governments and international organisations, gathered at the 10th UBC General Conference in Kristiansand, on 23-26 September 2009.

"Now it is more important than ever to meet and help each other to fight the emerging economic crisis and at the same time to meet the challenge of the climate change", said Mr Per Bød-ker Andersen, President of UBC opening the conference. He also stressed the need for action when it comes to the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. Mr Per Sigurd Sørensen, Mayor of Kristiansand welcomed the guests wishing them fruitful networking and discussions.

"We will never speak the same language and our cultural differences will remain", he stated."But we have lots of joint challenges, or maybe more important - the same possibilities and opportunities'. The speeches delivered during the first day of the conference, by Hallgeir Aalbu, Director General, Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, Norway, Ambassador Kornelija Jurgaitiene, member of the Council of the Baltic Sea States Committee of Senior Officials, Maria Åsenius, State Secretary to Minister for EU Affairs, Kingdom of Sweden, Councillor KayTwitchen, Rapporteur on Climate Change, member of the Committee of the Regions, David Sweet, European Commission, made up a picture of challenges of the implementation of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region. The necessity of political commitment, active involvement and initiative were strongly emphasized. As Mr David Sweet pointed out, "It is not about the documents. The documents are the starting point. We need to move from words to action". "We believe the Strategy can be a way of doing two things that need to be done: integrating policies across the wide range of fields and delivering the cross-border cooperation policies that are so hard to set up in many cases. We think we can work on these lines but we need your help"- concluded Mr Sweet.

Making use of the potential of the EU Strategy, the cities have to face climate and economic problems at the same time.

Presentations of Miquel Rosselló, member of the Executive Committee of the Consell Insular of Mallorca, Arco Latino and of Mayor George Heartwell of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Chairman of Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative pointed the strong need and will to cooperate with other organizations having similar problems and priorities.

"The future is in our hands. We cannot wait for national government to solve the problems we face. We must seize this moment. We must act on behalf of these magnificent bodies of water: the Baltic Sea and the Great Lakes", appealed Mayor George Heartwell.

The economic and business aspect was introduced by Svein Grandum, R&D Manager, Product Development of Elkem Solar contributing to low-cost production of solar cells. The youth voice was represented by Jannike Arnesen, Kristiansand.

The current problems were in focus during the four thematic workshops: to improve the environmental state of the Baltic Sea Region, to make the Baltic Sea Region a more prosperous place by supporting balanced economic development across the Region; to make the Baltic Sea Region a more accessible and attractive place and to make the Baltic Sea Region a safer and more secure place.The presentations delivered were a great basis for further discussions that led to concrete ideas and solutions for the cities.

The second day of the Conference was devoted to the UBC internal matters, such as reports, elections, finances and meetings of the UBC Commissions.

The Conference adopted the new UBC Strategy, new Sustainable Development Action Plan as well as the up-dated Social Charter. Additionally, the UBC Best Environmental Practice Award was handed to thecity of Umeå for the practice"No idling taxicabsin Umeå". Thecity of Gdansk was a winner of the UBC Cultural Award 2009 for the project "The City Signs of Culture". The 10th UBC General Conference resulted in the resolution adopted unanimously on 25 September 2009. The resolution calls the UBC member cities to be active in the EU Strategy for BSR implementation process and to work in an even more effective way for the whole region.