23RD MEETING OF THE UBC EXECUTIVE BOARD

The 23rd meeting of the Executive Board of the Union of the Baltic Cities was held on the 6 March 1999 in the City of Pori, Finland, upon the invitation of Mr Martti Sinisalmi, Mayor of Pori. The first day of the meeting was attended only by the Executive Board members, the second day was open to representatives from all member cities. 
The meeting was opened by Mr Anders Engström, the President of the Union. With great sorrow, Mr Engström informed the Board that Mr Jaak Tamm, former UBC Vice-President, Mayor of Tallinn and Sillamae, passed away on the 4 th of January 1999. Mr Jaak Tamm was deeply involved in creation and development of the UBC. The Board paid tribute to the memory of Mr Tamm with a minute of silence. His unexpected death was a great loss to the Union of the Baltic Cities. 

V General Conference 
Mr Torbjorn Bengtsson from Stockholm introduced the preliminary programme of the V General Conference, 24-25 September 1999. The first day of the conference will consist of the keynote speeches meetings of the UBC Commissions, 1-2 workshops, a visit to international travel fair. The second day will be devoted to internal UBC matters such as elections, reports, strategy etc. Mr Bengtsson said that the invitations to the Conference will be soon sent out to all member cities. 

Strategy for UBC 
Mr Bartlomiej Sochanski, UBC VicePresident, reminded that after the last Executive Board meeting in Szczecin, the latest draft of the Strategy was sent out for comments to all member cities. 
Mr Sochanski presented comments sent by the member cities. The Board authorised the Strategy Working Group to discuss submitted comments and include the appropriate ones into the Strategy document. 

Financial Report 1998 
Mr Pawel Zaboklicki, Secretary General, submitted the UBC financial report for 1998. Mr Zaboklicki underlined that all member cities (except one) paid membership fees and the financial position of the Union is stable. The report displays UBC incomes, expenditure, table with membership fees, expenditure of the Commissions, costs of the secretariats and UBC projects with external funding. TheSecretary informed that, as usual, the auditors report will be presented at the General Conference. The Board adopted the report. 

Meeting of major Baltic organisations 
President Engström reported from the meeting of major Baltic organisations held on 27 January, at the invitation of the Council of the Baltic Sea States in the newly established CBSS Secretariat in Stockholm. The following organisations took part in the meeting: CBSS, UBC, BSSSC, Nordic Council, NC of Ministers, Baltic Assembly, Barents Council, HELCOM, VASAB, Baltic 21. The aim of the meeting was to exchange information on activities carried out by mentioned organisations, in order to facilitate cooperation and avoid duplication of work. All present organisations shared an opinion that such working meetings are necessary and should be held regularly. 

areas of cooperation between HELCOM and the UBC Commission on Environment such as: municipal environmental auditing, local agenda 21, environmental awareness etc. The Board thanked Mr Sokolov and Mr Grip for their presentations and expressed hope for further fruitful cooperation between our institutions. 
The Chairmen of UBC working Commissions submitted reports on Commissions' activities since the last Executive Board meeting held in Szczecin on 16-17 October 1998. The Board adopted the reports and encouraged all Commissions to proceed their important work. Ms Ewa Depka, Gdynia, reported on  the results of the art competition "The Children of the Baltic", carried out by the UBC Task Force for PR.

New Member Cities 
Secretary General informed about new applications for Union membership submitted by the cities of: Johvi (Estonia) and Pruszcz Gdanski (Poland). The Board decided to accept these cities as members of the Union of the Baltic Cities and wished them successful cooperation with other UBC members. 

CBSS and HELCOM 
Mr Serguei Sokolov, Senior Adviser, introduced the Board with the structure, aims and activities of the CBSS. Mr Sokolov stressed the importance of cooperation between UBC and CBSS as regards the representation of the interests of the Baltic Sea Region. As an example Mr Sokolov mentioned the document on improving compatibility between Phare, Tacis and Interreg IIC, to be delivered by CBSS to the EC. UBC took active part in the document preparation. Mr Kjell Grip, Environment Secretary, made a presentation on the goals, activities and structure of Helsinki Commission. Mr Grip pointed out existing and potential 

Ms Depka, Project Coordinator, emphasised that the project was very popular among the member cities - 236 works from 25 cities were sent to the competition. The final of the competition took place in Gdansk on 28 January 1999. The jury including the representatives of diplomatic corps awarded 10 prizes. The Board expressed its satisfaction to the TF for the successful implementation of the project. 
Mr Pawel Zaboklicki introduced the latest issue of the UBC Baltic Cities Bulletin 1/99 devoted to Local Agenda 21. The bulletin provides information on LA21 work carried out by UBC and its member cities. Mr Zaboklicki emphasised that LA theme was very popular among the member cities and over 30 cities provided stories describing their activities in this field. The Secretary underlined the role of the Commission on Environment which significantly contributed to this issue of the bulletin.