The UBC XVI General Conference, held online due to the Covid-19 situation, elected today the Presidium and Board for the next 2-year period as well as adopted the new UBC Strategy and other operational documents. Over 80 cities’ representatives participated.
The General Conference hosted distinguished guest speakers: Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Dario Nardella, Mayor of Florence and President of Eurocities, Normunds Popens, Deputy Director General, DG Regio, EC, and Grzegorz Poznański, Director General, CBSS Secretariat. The General Conference called for cities and the UBC as drivers of sustainable economy and inclusiveness that share the same interests and goals with many partners – goals such as green and digital transition becoming reality.
“Despite the Covid situation and no matter what happens in the world, the UBC functions actively and cooperatively”, states the newly re-elected UBC President Mantas Jurgutis.
Vice-Mayor of Turku Elina Rantanen was re-elected as the 1st Vice-President and as other three Vice-Presidents Deputy Mayor of Gdańsk Piotr Grzelak, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg Vyacheslav Kalganov, and Councillor of the City of Kristiansand Jørgen H. Kristiansen.
The UBC Presidium was re-elected by the XVI General Conference (photo from the General XV General Conference, Kaunas 2019). Fom left to right: Deputy Mayor of Gdańsk Piotr Grzelak (Vice-President), Vice-Mayor of Turku Elina Rantanen (1st Vice-President), Deputy Mayor of Kaunas and UBC President Mantas Jurgutis, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for External Relations of St. Petersburg Vyacheslav Kalganov (Vice-President). Also re-elected but not in the photo: Councillor of the City of Kristiansand Jørgen H. Kristiansen (Vice-President).
Through challenging times together – in past and present
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the UBC. The organisation was founded in 1991 in Gdansk and has ever since worked towards boosting cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region and improving the lives of citizens across the region.
“From the very beginning the UBC was aiming to promote and develop the advanced, peaceful and prosperous region around the Baltic Sea and encourage the leadership of the cities in shaping the future of our region. Though during this mandate, the past two years, our activities have been only online, still our organization has been proactive in all daily activities, projects and initiatives. There are a number of projects started and still going on. The UBC has proved to be a reliable partner in various cooperational partnerships.”, says President Jurgutis.
More UBC’s past and present stories in the “UBC 30 Years” jubilee publication
- https://ubc.net/sites/default/files/ubc30lr.pdf
- https://issuu.com/unionofthebalticcities/docs/ubc30lr
