62nd UBC EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING, ON THE EVE OF XI GENERAL CONFERENCE
LIEPĀJA, 4 OCTOBER 2011
MEMO
The Board went through the programme of the XI General Conference:
5 October Plenary Session – welcome addresses and keynote speeches
- Uldis Sesks, Mayor of Liepāja, will welcome the participants; Gunars Ansins, Deputy Mayor of Liepāja, will present the city;
- Per Bødker Andersen, President of UBC
- Raimonds Vējonis, Minister for Regional Development and Environmental Protection, Republic of Latvia
- Catharina Sørensen, PhD, European Commission, Directorate General for Regional Policy – EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea region: A New Framework for Joint Action
- Jerzy Marek Nowakowski , Ambassador Extraordinary of the Republic of Poland to the Republic of Latvia – Baltic Sea Region: From Cold War to Arena of Cooperation
- Igor lonsky, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg , Head of International Cooperation Department – Future prospects for Baltic Sea Cooperation
- Martti Kohtanen, CEO of Siemens Finland, Strategic Business Partner of Baltic Development Forum – Challenges and possibilities for economic cooperation in the BSR
- Marie-Louise Rönnmark, Mayor of Umeå, 1st Vice-President of UBC – How culture can support city development ?
- Urve Tiidus, former Mayor of Kuressaare, Member of the Parliament of Estonia , UBC Vice-President – How can we be relevant for smaller cities ?
- Pavels Jurs, Director of Liepāja Youth Centre – How to involve young people more in the UBC work ?
- City of Turku – UBC Strategy
- Nature Concerthall project presentation
6 October General Assembly
Meetings of the UBC Commissions
Workshops:
- W1. How to strengthen economic attractiveness of cities
Moderator: Commission on Business Cooperation
- W2. How to master climate change; success factors in local integrated climate management
Moderator: Commission on Environment
- W3. How to meet the demographic challenge; the ageing society
Moderator: Commission on Health & Social Affairs
General Assembly
Report on UBC Activities, Per Bødker Andersen, President of UBC
Auditor’s Report
Board of Audit Report
Absolving the Presidium, Board, Secretary
Membership Fees 2012-2013
Executive Board in the next period
President and Vice-Presidents in the next period
Board of Audit in the next period
Secretariat in the next period
Auditor in the next period
Approval of creation of the Commission on Local Safety
Venue of the XI UBC General Conference in autumn 2013
UBC Cultural Prize 2011
The Board approved the following candidatures to the UBC organs:
1. Executive Board
Denmark – Naestved
Estonia – Keila
Finland – Jyväskylä
Germany – Rostock
Latvia – Liepāja
Lithuania – Šiauliai
Norway – Kristiansand
Poland – Gdańsk
Russia – St. Petersburg
Sweden – Växjö
2. President and three Vice-Presidents
Per Boedker Andersen, Deputy Mayor of Kolding – for the President
Marie-Louise Rönnmark, Mayor of Umeå – for the 1st Vice President
Jarkko Virtanen, Deputy Mayor of Turku – for the Vice President
Andres Jaadla, Mayor of Rakvere – for the Vice President
3. Board of Audit
Ewa Back, Councillor, Västernorrland
Marta Chełkowska, Director of Tourism Department, Pomorskie Voivodship
Jukka Vilen, Director of City Office, Kemi
4. Host of the Secretariat – City of Gdańsk
5. Auditor – licensed auditing company Bilans from Gdańsk
The President suggested a new Board meeting after the general assembly.
The Board approved the fees for the next two-year-period.
The next UBC General Conference was decided to be held in Mariehamn in 2013.
The Board discussed the expert exchange – the Jyväskylä Model. All permanent employees of the City of Jyväskylä are offered an annual opportunity to apply for a 1 to 3 month period of training and work abroad. Each year, a total of 5-6 city employees can be accepted to the programme through a selection process consisting of an application and an individual interview. The exchange must provide each person with learning opportunities and challenges on their respective area of expertise. During the exchange period, the employee is insured by the City of Jyväskylä and will receive his/her salary as per normal practice.
Jyväskylä reimburses the travel costs of its employees working abroad as well as reasonable rent costs in the destination country. These expenses are funded through an annual budget of 25 000€.
The Board agreed that the UBC member cities should be surveyed on their expert exchange experience. The results of this survey could lead to the formulation of guidelines.
Also, the Board discussed the proposal of resolution prepared by the Finnish cities at their meeting in Jyväskylä on 13 September 2011.
The proposal urges the UBC to speed up the implementation of the UBC Strategy. It recommends the Executive Board to instruct the new Presidium (2011-2013), with the cooperation of the Strategy Coordinator and the General Secretary:
- to establish the time-table for Executive Board meetings for the next period;
- to prepare the proposal of criteria for the evaluation of Commission work to the first ordinary meeting of the new Executive Board;
- to establish the time table of implementation of the key tasks of the UBC Strategy, to be adopted by the first ordinary meeting of the new Executive Board.
It was reminded that in Karlstad the Board had decided to create the task force on UBC development. It should consist of the one representative and one substitute from each Baltic Sea country. The following representatives have been proposed so far:
Poland – Gdańsk (Piort Grzelak, councillor) and Gdynia (Paweł Brutel, councillor)
Estonia – Kärdla (Georg Linkov, mayor, and Annely Veevo as substitute)
Denmark – Naestved (Soeren Revsbaek)
Norway – Kristiansand (Jørgen Kristiansen)
Finland – Turku and Jyväskylä
Latvia – Liepāja
Sweden – Oskarshamn
Lithuania had not decided yet.
It was decided to appoint Mikko Lohikoski as a chairman of the task force.
Chair – Per Boedker Andersen, UBC President
Secretary – Pawel Zaboklicki, UBC Secretary General