XVII UBC General Conference “Baltic Sea cities supporting Ukraine” was held on 24-26 October 2023 in Palanga, Lithuania.
The guests were welcomed by Mantas Jurgutis, President of UBC and Šarūnas Vaitkus, Mayor of Palanga.
The Plenary Sessions and a workshop were devoted to the topic how to integrate the Ukrainian and other refugees from war-torn countries.
The honorable speakers presented ideas on how to support Ukrainian cities, and the Mayors from UBC Cities shared information how their cities help the refugees and the partner Ukrainian cities.
Among the speakers there were:
Paulius Baltokas, Advisor to the President of the Republic of Lithuania
Petro Beshta, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Lithuania
Luanna Stetsenko, Representative of Ukrainian youth
Grzegorz Poznański, Director General, Council of the Baltic Sea States
Petro Beshta, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Lithuania
Luanna Stetsenko, Representative of Ukrainian youth
Grzegorz Poznański, Director General, Council of the Baltic Sea States
Gunars Ansins, Mayor of Liepāja, Member of the Committee of the Region
Meit Fohlin, Mayor of Gotland
Piotr Grzelak, Deputy Mayor of Gdańsk
Linda Ozola, Deputy Mayor of Riga
Dr Stefan Fassbinder, Lord Mayor of Greifswald
Elina Rantanen, Deputy Mayor of Turku
Normunds Popens, Deputy Director-General, DG Regio, ‘European Commission supporting Ukraine’
Video messages were delivered by:
Virginijus Sinkevičius, Commissioner, Environment, Oceans and Fisheries,
Mihhail Kõlvart, Mayor of Tallinn, EUROCITIES Treasurer,
Vasco Alves Cordeiro, President, European Committee of the Regions,
Anatoly Fedoruk, Mayor of the City of Bucha, Ukraine delivered
On the conference agenda there were also other topics discussed at the workshops: renewable energy, decarbonization, youth involvement and digital transformation, help for migrants, etc.
The General Assembly was held on 26 October 2023. Internal matters of the Union were discussed, among others: Board of Audit report, Membership fees 2024-2025, adoption of the resolution on aggression on Ukraine. The new Executive Board was elected for the next period.
The Cities elected New Presidium and Executive Board.
Mantas Jurgutis, Deputy Mayor of Kaunas, will continue as the UBC President. Elina Rantanen (1st Vice-President), Deputy Mayor of Turku, Piotr Grzelak (Vice-President), Deputy Mayor of Gdańsk, were re-elected.
Malin Lauber, Mayor of the City of Växjö was elected as Vice-President.
UBC would like to heartily thank the host City of Palanga for the great hospitality and organization of the General Conference.
Streaming from the sessions avaliable at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24QOp_pqnGw
