Gdynia starts a new partnership!

On 5 May 1999, Wojciech Szczurek, Mayor of Gdynia and Dmytro Shimchuk, Deputy Chairman of State Municipal Administration of Sevastopol, signed the Agreement on Co-operation between the Cities of Gdynia and Sevastopol. 
We hope that Gdynia will become a gateway to this City on the Black Sea and will facilitate the contacts between UBC Member Cities and Sevastopol. On its part, Sevastopol is looking forward to closer cooperation with UBC. It is a great chance to bring together two seas, the Baltic and the Black Sea via friendship and exchange between the cities.

W. Szczurek, Mayor of Gdynia, with D. Shymchuk, Deputy Mayor of Sevastopol

Sevastopol is a city of rich history and culture and of many opportunities as well. Today's city was built in 1783 at the site of the antique Greek town of Chersonesus from the 5 th century B. C. Later Sevastopol became a real melting pot of cultures and religions. The city was inhabited by native peoples and also by Frenchmen, Englishmen, Italians, Greeks and Turks, just to mention some. Today's Sevastopol has retained this colourful and multicultural character. 
Perhaps the first thing coming to one's mind while thinking of Sevastopol is the naval port. Sevastopol harbours two Navies, namely, Ukrainian and Russian. Apart from the naval port, there are the busy commercial and fishing ports as well. It is worth mentioning that the climate is similar to that of the Champagne region in France. This natural phenomenon allows the production of fine wines and sparkling wines. The mild climate attracts tourists who can bathe for 5 months in the waters of the Black Sea. This short description just hints at the city attractions making it a destination place for both business people and holidaymakers.

New Projects

Gdynia has received grants from the Small Project Fund within the Cross Border Cooperation PHARE programme. Two projects will be realised with the assistance of the above mentioned grants. 
The first one is the "International Contact Camp in Gdynia" which was held on 1-12 July 1999. The camp was organised for the children from the school-orphanage in Kaliningrad and for groups of children from Witebsk and Vilnius. Its basic aim was to get the children acquainted with different national cultures and customs, to enable children to have friendly contacts with the youth from neighbouring countries and to make them tolerant towards the different characters of other nations. 
The second project to be realised in Gdynia is the "Presentation of the City and Region Liepaja" (11-13 October 1999). The objective of the project is the economic, cultural and scientific presentation of the city and region of Liepaja. Presentation should enable creation of cooperation and exchange of mutual experiences between the cities from the Association of the Polish Municipalities of the Euroregion Baltic, and companies and institutions from the city and region of Liepaja.

Hope Bridges

Towards the end of the last war the bridges between Elblag and Kaliningrad were blown up, limiting use of the old rightof-way to local traffic. 
The government of Poland has prepared plans for reconstruction of an express way running from Elblag to Kaliningrad. It is a section of 50 km length. It has used the Swedish consulting firm "Sweroad" which has elaborated a study of road reconstruction, technical conditions of this undertaking and investment profitability and evaluation. At present it appears that reconstruction of the road from Elblag to Kaliningrad will become a reality. In July 1999 the first bridge of over 250 km length, crossing the Omaza river, will be ready. Conceptual plans for reconstruction of other sections have been accepted covering Elblag country border. In the opinion of experts, routes connected with the planned expressway A-1 (North-South) and

road E-7 (Gdansk-Warsaw) will have a big impact on road communication system improvement in the region of south-east Baltic. 
This undertaking has been divided into some stages. The first stage is bridge construction at the Omaza river, near the border with Russia. Afterwards the next sections of old pavement will be renovated and bridges at Mlynówka and Pasłęka rivers will be reconstructed. Grzechotki (at the frontier of Poland with the Kaliningrad District) would become a big international border crossing. It is a very expensive investment. The Polish Government would finance planning. The government is going to try to obtain EU assistance for all necessary construction. 
In Elblag, the Brzeska street bridge over the Elblag river has been built. This bridge will improve communication in the town and in all region. It will make management of the harbour areas situated on the left side of the river a possibility. This bridge will be ready in the year 2001.

Sun and Studies by the Baltic 

Satakunta Polytechnic operates in five towns in western Finland and hosts over 5,000 students in such fields as Business and Management; Fine Art; Social Services and Health Care; Technology and Maritime Management; and Tourism. 
Every summer the Polytechnic arranges an International Summer Term in Pori (5 July - 6 August 1999). The lecturers come from European, American and Asian partner universities and other higher education institutions of the Polytechnic. This year the Summer Term consists of studies in Business and Management; and Social Services and Health Care. There are some courses in languages, Fine Art and Maritime Management, as well. 
26 courses are offered this year. Each course lasts 1 - 2 weeks and extent is 1,5 - 3 ECTS -credits. The courses are meant for the registered degree programme students of the polytechnic, visiting international students, and for all those interested in the particular subject areas. The language used is English.