XI UBC General Conference succesfully carried out in Liepāja

Building the future together

The notes of the UBC anthem performed by the Bell Choir opened XI UBC General Conference in Liepāja. Over 200 participants from 76 member cities, including mayors, council members, city officials, experts and representatives of other organizations, gathered on 5-6 October 2011 to celebrate the 20^th an-niversary of the Union's foundation in Gdañsk on 20 September 1991.

For about 45 years Baltic Sea region had been separated by invisible and visible border, so called 'iron curtain' that did not allow us to meet each other, to develop our Baltic Sea region, our infra-structure, and our business, said Mr Uldis Sesks, Mayor of Liepāja welcoming the participants. Today, we are able to build our future together and we are very grateful to many cities that are represented here today for sharing with us your experience.

The first plenary session brought an outlook on what happened during the last 20 years from the Cold War to the present cooperation and what can happen during the next 10-20 years.

Ms Catharina Sørensen, representing European Commission DG Regio, presented the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region: A New Framework for Joint Action.

A historical perspective of the BSR development was in focus in the speech of Mr Jerzy Marek Nowakowski, Ambassador of Poland to the Republic of Latvia, entitled "Baltic Sea Region: From Cold War to Arena of Cooperation".

Mr Igor Lonsky, Deputy Chairman - Head of the International Cooperation Department of the Committee for External Relations of Saint-Petersburg, was speaking about the future prospects for the Baltic Sea cooperation.

Challenges and possibilities for economic cooperation in the BSR was presented by Mr Martti Kohtanen, CEO of Siemens Finland, a strategic partner of the Baltic Development Forum.

The second plenary session highlighted the cities'role, their expectations, interests, etc. Ms Marie-Louise Rönnmark, Mayor of Umeå, 1^st Vice-President of UBC and Ms Urve Tiidus, City of Kuressaare, former Mayor, Member of the Parliament of Estonia, delivered interesting speeches presenting the cities' point of view. The youth representative, Mr Pavels Jurs, Director of Liepāja Youth Centre, listed several ideas on how to involve young people in the work.

The new Executive Board was elected and now Gdańsk (Poland), Jyväskylä (Finland), Keila (Estonia), Kristiansand (Norway), Liepāja (Latvia), Næstved (Denmark), Šiauliai (Lithuania), Rostock (Germany), St. Petersburg (Russia), Växjö (Sweden) are the Board members during the next period.

Mr Per Bødker Andersen was re-elected as the President. ms Marie-Louise Rönnmark, Umeå, will hold the position of the 1^st UBC vice-President, whereas Mr Jarkko Virtanen, Turku, and Mr Andres Jaadla, Rakvere will be the vice-Presidents. Gdańsk will serve as a host city of the UBC Secretariat.

The second conference day started with the inspiring workshops covering three crucial issues our societies are facing:

• How to strengthen economic attractiveness of cities;
• How to master climate change; success factors in local integrated climate management;
• How to meet the demographic challenge; the ageing society.

The competent experienced speakers stimulated interactive dis cussions with the cities' delegates.

The second day was devoted to the internal UBC matters, such as reports, elections, finances, etc. Additionally, the Conference approved the creation of the UBC Commission on Local Safety.

The Mediaeval Week on Gotland and the PunkSong Festival in Rakvere shared the UBC Cultural Prize 2011.

The XII UBC General Conference will be held in Mariehamn in 2013.