International co-operation of Gdynia

events in 2006

21.11.2006

INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION OF GDYNIA
EVENTS IN 2006

GDYNIA CELEBRATES ITS 80TH BIRTHDAY
On 10th February 2006 Gdynia celebrated its 80th anniversary of granting city rights. Among many invited guests there were representatives of sister cities of Gdynia: Aalborg (Denmark), Baranovichi (Belarus), Kaliningrad (Russia), Karlskrona (Sweden), Kiel (Germany), Klaipeda (Lithuania), Kotka (Finland), Kristiansand (Norway), Kunda (Estonia), Plymouth (United Kingdom), Seattle (USA), Syndicat Mixte de la Côte d’Opale (France).

During the stay in Gdynia the official guests from sister cities participated in the meeting with local authorities, visited the Pomeranian Science and Technology Park in Gdynia as well as paid a study visit to the new seat of Gdynia City Museum and Polish Navy Museum.

Additionally, the representatives of sister cities participated in the opening of the photographic exhibition entitled: “Gdynia - Plymouth 1976 - 2006", organized in the Exhibition Hall of Gdynia City Museum in the Centre “Gemini". The exhibition was prepared on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of twinning link between Gdynia and Plymouth. It included photos of Gdynia photographers, Marzena and Maurycy Smierzchalscy, as well as the historic photos (from the archive of the Gdynia City Museum and Gdynia City Hall) which presented the history of official contacts between Gdynia and Plymouth.

The key ceremony of the celebrations of the 80th Birthday of Gdynia was a solemn Session of the City Council in the Music Theatre. During the Session the Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski Medals “In recognition of outstanding services to Gdynia" were awarded. Among the awarded persons was Peter Smith, Chairman of Plymouth-Gdynia Twinning Panel. Mr Smith initiated the cooperation between Plymouth and Gdynia in 1975. During 30 years of his involvement in the twinning link between both cities, Mr Smith has been an outstanding ambassador of Gdynia on the British Isles. The Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski Medal was awarded also to Janusz Śniadek, Chairman of Independent Self-governing Trade Union "Solidarność", inhabitant of Gdynia and shipyard worker as well as to Przemysław Dyakowski, musician, creator of Sax Club and co-originator of the “Ucho" Club in Gdynia.

During the City Council Session the “Time for Gdynia" prize for the best investment of the year 2005 was also awarded. This prize was given to the company “Vectra" S.A. for the complex of a rehabilitation centre combined with a hotel and an office building.
 
SINTEF OFFICE IN GDYNIA
Since the beginning of the year a project office of SINTEF Polska Sp. z o.o. has been operating in the Pomeranian Science and Technology Park in Gdynia. SINTEF Polska is a part of the SINTEF Group, the largest independent research organisation in Scandinavia, established in 1950. The organisation conducts research commissioned by the customer in the following fields: IT, material science and applied chemistry, petroleum and energy, marine activities, medicine, construction, technology management. SINTEF is an abbreviation of the Foundation for Scientific and Industrial Research at the Norwegian Institute of Technology with the seat in Trondheim. "Technology for a better society" is the vision of this organisation and the mission of SINTEF Polska is to strengthen cooperation between the Polish industry and universities.
In October last year, during the visit of SINTEF Polska representatives to Gdynia, a letter of intent between Gdynia Municipality and SINTEF Polska Sp. z o.o. was signed. It concerned future cooperation and realisation of joint projects in the field of self-government, industry and education. The opening of SINTEF Polska office was preceded by a conference entitled "International Competitiveness and Technology Development" which took place in Gdynia City Hall on 19th January 2006. The conference was organised in cooperation with the Technical University of Gdansk. It is the aim of SINTEF Polska Project Office to realise joint undertakings together with local entities with the use of EEA and Norwegian Financial Mechanisms.

NEW CHINESE PARTNER
Since 24th April 2006 Gdynia has had a new, 15th twin city. It was on that day that the cooperation agreement between the Chinese city of Haikou and Gdynia was concluded. The signing ceremony took place in Haikou. Mr. Jerzy Zając, the Secretary of the City signed the agreement on behalf of Gdynia and the Chinese part was represented by Mr. Liu Qingsheng, the Deputy Mayor of Haikou.
The city of Haikou is located on the southern coast of Qiongzhou strait, on Hainan island. It is the capital of Hainan province, the youngest one in China, established in 1988 and being China's largest economic zone. Just as Gdynia, the city was founded in 1926. It constitutes the political, economic and cultural centre of the island. After merging with Qionshan in 2003, Haikou has had the area of 2,300 km² and about 1,700 000 inhabitants. The port of Haikou plays a significant role in the city's economy. Food, electronic, textile and pharmaceutical industry are the basic branches of industry. The city is an important tourist centre. Haikou participates in the "Healthy Cities" programme of World Health Organisation, the aim of which is the improvement of health conditions in the cities. Apart form Gdynia, Haikou has 6 other sister cities: Darwin (Australia), Oklahoma (USA), Perth (Great Britain), Saint-Nazaire (France), Zanzibar (Tanzania), Denpasar (Indonesia).
The agreement which includes cooperation in the field of economic development, entrepreneurship and business promotion as well as issues connected with science and technology, culture, education, tourism, urban planning, health and environmental protection and sport was signed for the period of 5 years. After the Letter of Intent signed on 26th September 2005 in Gdynia, it is the next step in the development of relations between Gdynia and Haikou. These contacts were initiated by the agency of the Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Canton (Guangzhou) as well as Consul General of Peoples' Republic of China in Gdańsk.

COOPERATION WITH KRISTIANSAND
At the turn of April and May Gdynia was visited by two delegations from our sister city of Kristiansand. Between 24th and 25th April 2006 we received a group of carers from the "Ringåsen Bolig" centre for autistic persons and the mentally ill from Kristiansand. The aim of the visit was to get acquainted with the work and functioning rules of Gdynia institutions dealing with social care. During their stay in Gdynia, the Norwegian guests were shown "Gdynia without barriers" programme as well as the activities connected with Agenda 22 implementation. They also paid study visits to Day Activity Centre, Professional and Social Activation Centre for Autistic Adults as well as to Children's Home in Demptowo.
And between 1st and 3rd May 2006 Gdynia was visited by the representatives of Sports Department of Kristiansand Municipality whose visit was organised as part of cooperation with Gdynia Sport Centre (GOSiR). The Norwegian guests got acquainted with the sports offer of the city, the rules for managing sports facilities as well as the activities of UBC Commission on Sport Secretariat which is run by Gdynia. Kristiansand representatives paid visit to the facilities of Gdynia Sport Centre, Gdynia sports clubs and Yacht Basin in Gdynia.

14TH TWIN CITIES SPORTING COMPETITION
Between 3rd and 6th May 2006 Twin Cities Sporting Competition was organised in Gdynia. This year a record number of young sportsmen, that is over 500 people took part in the Competition. They represented 10 cities: Aalborg (Denmark), Baranovichi (Belorussia), Kaliningrad (Russia), Karlskrona (Sweden), Kiel (Germany), Klaipeda (Lithuania), Kristiansand (Norway), Liepaja (Latvia) and for the first time Union of the Opal Coast (France) as well as the host of the games, that is the city of Gdynia.
The opening ceremony of the 14th Twin Cities Sporting Competition took place in Gdynia marina on 4th May 2006. During the Ceremony the Mayor of Gdynia Mr. Wojciech Szczurek received a Blue Flag from Mr. Mariusz Witoński, Blue Flag Programme Coordinator for Poland. The Flag was awarded to Gdynia Marina for complying with the highest water quality, environment management and safety standards as well as the standards of educational and information activities.
In this years' games young sportsmen competed in four disciplines: boys' football, girls' handball, boys and girls' judo as well as boys and girls' sailing regattas. Gdynia won in the general classification of the cities outdistancing respectively Kiel and Baranovichi. The closing ceremony of the Sporting Competition combined with the European Running Race took place on 6th May 2006. The representatives of twin cities also took part in the 1,500 m European race, thus ending their participation in the 14th Twin Cities Sporting Competition.

ANNUAL MEETING OF UBC COMMISSION ON SPORT
On 5th May 2006 in the conference hall of "Vectra" Complex in Gdynia Orłowo there was organised the Annual Meeting of UBC Commission on Sport. Gdynia has been a member of the Union of the Baltic Cities (UBC), an international organisation associating over 100 cities from 10 countries located on the Baltic Sea, since 1991. Since 1995 Gdynia has chaired the Commission on Sport within the Union of the Baltic Cities. As part of its activity the UBC Commission on Sport co-finances sporting events organised in the Baltic Sea countries as well as organises seminars and annual meetings during which different issues connected with sport and the ways of its promotion, etc. are discussed.
It was "Active Living" that was the main theme of this year's meeting. The meeting was divided into two thematic parts. During the first one entitled "Multifunctional Sports Arenas: from the planning phase to effective management" there were presented sports arenas in Rostock (Germany), Karlskrona (Sweden), Gladsaxe (Denmark) and Gdynia. In their speeches, the lecturers presented methods for managing sports facilities as well as initiatives promoting sport among the inhabitants of their cities.
The second part of the meeting entitled "Active Cities" focused on the programme of active lifestyle promotion. It was organised in cooperation with the Baltic Region Healthy Cities Association. Within this part of the meeting an active living programme realised in Turku (Finland) was presented including methods for encouraging children to take up physical activity. There were also presented ways of promoting healthy strategies on the example of Polva city (Estonia) as well as the system of prescribing physical activity which functions in Denmark.

SWEDISH HELP TO GDYNIA INSTITUTIONS
Between 7th and 12th May 2006 a Swedish delegation visited Gdynia. It consisted of the representatives of Polish community in Sweden, Swedish branch of "Save the Children", an international organisation protecting the rights of children as well as the representatives of institutions dealing with care for elderly people from Malmö. These organisations have for many years cooperated with different institutions in Gdynia and other Polish cities donating gifts in the form of hospital beds, medical and rehabilitation equipment, dressing materials, napkins and toys for children as well as computer equipment.
The aim of the visit was to get familiar with the structure and functioning rules of institutions dealing with social care. During their stay in Gdynia the Swedish guests met the city authorities and paid study visits to different institutions. In the City Hospital the Malmö representatives had a meeting with the managing director, visited different hospital wards and met their heads. The delegation also visited the Primary School no. 6 in Gdynia, the St. Laurence Hospice, the Father Pio Support Centre "Caritas", the Children's Home in Demptowo as well as the Janusz Korczak Children's Home in Gdańsk-Oliwa. During the visits the guests presented the institutions with further gifts.

YOUTH EXCHANGES
In 2006 within student exchanges with School Complex no. 2, 4 and 14, groups of students and teachers from Germany, Sweden, Lithuania and Hungary visited Gdynia City Hall. During the meetings with city authorities, foreign guests had an opportunity to get to know the history and potential of Gdynia. They could also get acquainted not only with the educational system in Gdynia but also with city's economic situation.

KIELER WOCHE 2006
Between 16th and 25th June 2006 Gdynia together with the Marshal Office of Pomorskie Voivodship participated in the 29th International Market organised during the "Kieler Woche 2006" (Kiel Week). At the International Market there were presented national stands of 31 countries with tourist and promotional offers of cities and regions, handicraft as well as regional cuisine of given countries.
At the stand of Gdynia and Pomorskie Region works of amber, wooden crafts as well as the city's and the region's promotional and informational materials were presented. As a cultural contribution of Gdynia and Pomorskie Voivodship a street theatre "Theatre of Dreams" performed on the premises of the Market presenting its spectacle entitled "the Visit".
Gdynia's stand was visited by the representatives of German associations representing the Polish communities: German-Polish Association and the Association for Polish Culture Promotion "Polonus". It was Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor who opened this year's "Kieler Woche" on 17th June 2006 together with Peter Harry Carstensen, the Prime Minister of Schlezwik-Holsten Land and Angelika Volquartz, the Mayor of Kiel. Mr Bogusław Stasiak, the Vice-Mayor of Gdynia was the official representative of Gdynia during "Kieler Woche". As part of the programme the delegate of Gdynia participated in meetings with Kiel authorities and the diplomatic corps. Mr. Stasiak also took part in the solemn opening of "Kieler Woche" as well as in accompanying events. Participation in the International City Forum attended by the representatives of Kiel sister cities was also on the event's agenda.

VISIT OF THE REPRESENTATIVES OF GDYNIA TWINNING PANEL FROM PLYMOUTH
In Gdynia City Hall, on 4th September there was held a meeting with the representatives of Gdynia Twinning Panel, an association promoting contacts between sister cities of Plymouth and Gdynia. The aim of the meeting was to discuss the proposal to fund a prize by Gdynia Twinning Panel. This prize would commemorate the activities of the organisation among Gdynia inhabitants. During the discussion it was suggested that an annual prize for the best secondary-school graduate, having obtained the best results in the baccalaureate in English should be established. The prize would be awarded starting from next year. During their stay in our city, the English delegation visited the Children's Home in Demptowo.

VISIT OF THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE POLISH HOME FROM BARANOVICHI
Between 6th and 10th September Gdynia played host to a delegation from the Polish Home from the sister city of Baranovichi (Belorussia). As part of their stay, the guests had a meeting with city authorities and participated in the programme prepared by the Association "Polish Community" which included sightseeing in Gdynia and the Tri-City as well as meetings with the authorities of Polish Community's Pomeranian Division.

SEMINAR "OPEN CITIES - BUILD FOR ALL"
On 8th September 2006 in the "Vectra" Complex in Gdynia there was held a seminar entitled "Open cities - Build for All. Implementation of best practices in accessibility in public procurement". The seminar was organised as part of BUILD FOR ALL pilot project with the aim of mainstreaming disability issues by means of new EU directives concerning public procurement. The project partners are working on two documents: handbook and toolkit for tenderers and bidders. The documents contain guidelines for including accessibility criteria in all construction works commissioned by the public sector by public procurement.
The Seminar in Gdynia was one of the workshops organised apart from our country also in Germany, Italy and Spain. During these workshops the prepared documents are being assessed as to the possibilities of implementing the included guidelines into the national systems of public procurement. It was the aim of the seminar to present the above mentioned materials and to obtain the participants' opinions on them.
The training seminar was organised by Info-Handicap from Luxembourg, Build for All project coordinator and Gdynia City Hall. Among the participants there were city authorities, representatives of tendering institutions, architects as well as representatives of users. In the course of the seminar the new directives concerning public procurement in Poland were presented as well as the expectations of the built environment users, first and foremost the disabled, and the experiences of architects designing in accordance with the universal design rule. In addition, the experiences of other countries observing this rule were presented. The seminar was combined with an exhibition entitled "Cities without Barriers". It consisted of photographs and architectural design prepared during workshops of the same title addressed to architecture students and held in Gdynia on 14th May 2006.

KLAIPEDA DAYS IN GDYNIA
Between 21st and 24th September the "Klaipeda Days in Gdynia" were held in our city. The event organised within a series of events entitled "Lithuanian Days in Poland" was held under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Poland and the President of the Republic of Lithuania.
The above mentioned initiative included the visit of an official delegation from Klaipeda which on 21st September met Gdynia authorities. The Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania in Poland also participated in the meeting together with the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Lithuania in Gdańsk.
On the same day the opening of an exhibition of Klaipeda photographers took place. In their works they recorded the images of the old city and surrounding of Klaipeda. As part of the "Klaipeda Days in Gdynia", during the Autumn Fair "Gifts of the Earth", the craftsmen from our twin city presented works made of amber, linen and wicker and a catering company from Klaipeda presented traditional dishes of Lithuanian cuisine. The event was held between 22nd and 24th September in the Polanka Redłowska Glade in Gdynia.

ANNUAL MEETING OF UBC COMMISSION ON TRANSPORTATION
On 29th September 2006 in the conference room of the "Vectra" Complex in Gdynia there was held the Annual Meeting of UBC Commission on Transportation entitled "Integration of transport systems in the Baltic Europe". The meeting, during which the latest initiatives of the Commission as well as future activities were discussed, was combined with a seminar devoted to the integration of transport systems and Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). Lecturers from Germany and Sweden presented the rules for organisation and financing of the integrated transport system in Mecklemburg-Vorpommern and Stockholm Regions. The representatives of the University of Gdańsk presented the rules for public transport system integration in the Tri-city as well as a draft of an advanced system of transport management in the Tri-City agglomeration. Next the representative of the European Commission presented the functioning rules of Intelligent Transport Systems in The European Union and the representative of Göteborg (Sweden)acquainted the participants with the practical benefits of ITS use on the example of his city.

EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING OF THE UNION OF THE BALTIC CITIES
Between 19th and 20th October 2006 the Executive Board of the Union of the Baltic Cities (UBC), an organisation associating about 100 cities of 10 countries from the Baltic Sea Region, had its session in Gdynia which is one of the members. The Executive Board is the body holding supreme power in the time between the sessions of the General Conference. The Boardconsists of one member city representing each country, the President and three Vice-Presidents. 52 representatives of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Sweden came to Gdynia for the 47th Executive Board Meeting.
The meeting consisted of two sessions. On Thursday, 19th October 2006 the closed session was organised which was attended only by the Executive Board members, whereas on Friday, 20th October the open session was held. The leaders and representatives of UBC Commissions as well as the delegates of UBC member cities took part in it. During the closed session, the UBC Executive Board admitted two new cities as members of the organisation, that is Robertsfors from Sweden and Jyväskylä from Finland. In the course of the meeting the proposal to establish a new Commission, this time on Energy, was accepted. This Commission will deal with promoting energy best practices, renewable energy issue, the possibilities of reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the transport sector, energy efficiency and safety as well as information and education. Among the subjects discussed there were such issues as the next year's General Conference in the Estonian city of Pärnu, future development of the Union of the Baltic Cities as well as opening of the UBC office in Brussels, the task of which is to lobby for the benefit of the organisation and member cities among European institutions. During the open session there were presented among others the reports of UBC Commissions concerning their activities between October 2005 and September 2006.

VISIT OF NATIVE AMERICANS TO GDYNIA
On 23rd November 2006 a group of a dozen or so Native Americans from the Nisqually Reserve in the Washington Statem, USA visited our city. Among the guests there were songsters, dancers and drummers. During the meeting in the City Hall the American Indians had an opportunity to get acquainted with the history, economic potential and tourist attractions of Gdynia. It was the presentation of historical figures connected with the culture and customs of American Indians that aroused great interest among the guests. The figures were made by Katarzyna Manikowska, an employee of Gdynia City Council Office who is last year's Polish Champion of painting historical figures. At the end of the meeting the Native Americans presented their culture, tradition and customs. After the meeting the guests paid a visit to the "Dar Młodzieży" training tall ship of Gdynia Maritime University.

KLAIPEDA ART 2006
The exhibition entitled "Klaipeda Art 2006" organised between 27th November and 26th December 2006 was the last element of the "Klaipeda Days in Gdynia" celebrations. It was an artistic project of the Union of Lithuanian Visual Artists, Branch in Klaipeda. Representatives of different artistic fields took part in it. The main assumption of the project was to take a new look at the artistic work of the contemporary Klaipeda region artists within a joint undertaking. The exhibition presented in the exhibition hall of the Museum of the City of Gdynia in the "Gemini" Cultural and Recreational Centre presented the newest works of Klaipeda artists.

• Opublikowano: 21.11.2006 00:00
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  Autor: Lidia Rumel-Czarnowska