Union of the Baltic Cities (UBC) is a voluntary, proactive network mobilizing the shared potential of the member cities for democratic, economic, social, cultural and environmentally sustainable development of the Baltic Sea region.

The Union gathers the cities from nine Baltic Sea countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Ukraine.

Inspired in part by the historic example of the Hanseatic League[1] which was one of the first formal institutions established to bolster the Baltic as a cohesive region within Europe.

The cities of Gdańsk in Poland and Kalmar in Sweden took the initiative in founding the organization, but Gdańsk was chosen as the organization's headquarters to emphasize the desire to break down historic barriers between Western and Eastern Europe.

[6] The Union states its aims are to: The Union gathers the cities from nine Baltic Sea countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and Ukraine.