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Dear guests,

Dear UBC friends!

Welcome to Liepāja – the city between the lake and the sea, known as Latvia’s capital of rock music, but economically flourishing as the city of lace and metal, while pampering visitors and inhabitants alike with the whitest sand beaches of the Baltic Sea. Liepāja greets you and hopes during your stay to share with you its complicated history, rich traditions and remarkable future.

The self-esteem of the Liepāja people is most vivid in the area of culture. We take pride in our professional theater, the internationally renowned symphony orchestra, but the citizens of the city themselves have gathered  enough amber from the Baltic Sea to create the world's longest necklace. This quest for culture, art and freedom of spirit is so strong because during the Soviet occupation of Latvia, Liepāja was a closed city. It meant that every night at 8 o’clock the beaches were closed to the public and the sand was harrowed so that tracks left by potential invaders emerging from the Baltic Sea could be traced.

Since the restoration of Latvia’s independence, the city of Liepāja has changed and developed, establishing new traditions along the way. Each year we open the summer season with the festival of crafts and ethno music, all summer long Liepāja Symphony Orchestra stages open air concerts, while city streets and squares become the stage for the international street theater festival "The Earth. The Sky. The Sea" and  painters create art in the annual international art plein air. Our beach has been the venue of several championships in windsurfing including Formula Windsurfing European Championship 2011, the roads of the region are the competition grounds for Auto Rally Kurzeme, but Liepāja Olympic Centre - for world and European sport events, among them – FIBA U19 World Basketball Championship 2011. At the end of summer Liepāja churches are filled with the music of the International Organ Music Festival. 

Our goals are supported with the help of EU projects – Liepāja has managed to attract 200 million EUR for the implementation of about 20 projects. They range from large scale infrastructure projects to the construction of a new bicycle path winding along the beach and installation of sculptures of the city anthem’s figures in the streets. Liepāja traditionally is the leading manufacturing city in Latvia and increasingly output has become export-oriented, including fish processing and textile manufacturing. This development is helped by the multi-functional ice-free port of Liepāja. 

I wish you to have enjoyable and productive conference days in our city and come back again to enjoy our recreational and cultural opportunities!

Uldis Sesks,  

Mayor of Liepāja

The XI General Conference in Liepāja is approaching. In Liepāja we will celebrate 20th anniversary of UBC foundation in Gdańsk on 20 September 1991. 

Much has happened since UBC creation in 1991. The Baltic Sea region has been an arena of spectacular changes. From the region divided for 45 years by the iron curtain, it transformed into an area of vast cooperation. The theme of our conference is 'Building on the past, heading for the future'. Reference to the past should be, however, a stepping-stone to the discussion about the future.

The first plenary session will bring an outlook on what happened during last 20 years from the cold war to the present cooperation and what can happen during the next 10-20 years. We have invited distinguished speakers inter alia from the European Commission, Baltic Development Forum and more.

The second plenary session will highlight the cities’ role, their expectations, interests etc. Among the speakers will be Ilmar Reepalu, Mayor of Malmö and Urve Tiidus, UBC Vice-President, member of the Parliament of Estonia, former Mayor of Kuressaare.

We will start the second conference day with workshops covering three crucial issues our societies are facing:

- How to strengthen economic attractiveness of cities

- How to master climate change; success factors in local integrated climate management

- How to meet the demographic challenge; the ageing society

Commissions responsible for the workshops have arranged interesting speakers. I hope the member cities will actively contribute to the conference workshops.

The second day will be also devoted to internal UBC matters such as reports, elections, finances and meetings of the commissions.

I truly hope Anders Engström, UBC Honorary President, former UBC President and former Mayor of Kalmar as well as Michael Bouteiller, former UBC Vice-President and former Mayor of Lübeck will join us in Liepāja and share with us fascinating stories from the origins of the UBC.

Welcome to the XI UBC General Conference !

Per Boedker Andersen

President of UBC