Turku and Gdansk - the new perspectives

The remarkable resemblance between the history of the Finnish city of Turku and that of Polish Gdansk gave rise to the official launch of the cities partnership fifty years ago. The common experience of the Hanseatic expansion and a similar economic impact of the two seaports on the Baltic Europe afford superb conditions for mutual competition as well as cooperation. To date, this cooperation has mainly focused on economic and cultural dimensions. On 4-6 September, as Gdansk was hosting delegates of the Turku local government headed by deputy mayor Tero Hirvilammi and a large group representing the Turku Regional Development Centre, we discussed how to shape it nowadays, at the time when this region of the Old Continent is undergoing rapid changes.

The economic mission from Turku was received by the Gdansk authorities headed by City Mayor - Pawel Adamowicz and Marshal of the Pomeranian Region - Jan Kozlowski. A busy schedule of the visit included meetings with the heads of the Economic Development and International Cooperation Departments at the Office of Marshal of the Pomeranian Region, Pomeranian Development Agency and Gdansk Shipyard.

The guests also visited the Port of Gdansk Authority SA and listened with interest to the reflections voiced by Port Marketing Director Julian Skelnik regarding the current condition and prospective developments of the Gdansk Port. The main focus was the cooperation in the framework of an increasingly popular concept of so-called "maritime clusters".

It is the basis formed by associations comprised of producers and providers of services naturally gathered around port cities that enables shaping a modern-day network of mutual understanding allowing cooperation between companies and, at the same time, ensuring their independence and competitiveness. Creating a new vision has nowadays become the priority for centres relying on the maritime economy. The mutual respect of the two parties' interests and priorities will be conducive to expanding the cooperation in a wide variety of areas such as business activity, science, promotion, innovative solutions and culture. In consequence, we can expect more efficient logistical cooperation in terms of goods haulage and launching new shipping services both for goods and passengers.