Regional Council of Kymenlaakso

The Regional Council of Kymenlaakso is a federation of seven municipalities, promoting the interests of Kymenlaakso region. The council is responsible for both spatial planning and regional development. The Kymenlaakso region is located in South-East Finland including the areas of the cities of Kouvola and Kotka.

The regional plan and the regional program define the main goals of regional development. Regional planning takes into account nation-wide land use guidelines and foster their application at a regional level. The regional plan acts as a guide for land use plans at municipality level. National interest supervision is carried out in co-operation with state officials, municipalities and other participants.

Regional Development is mainly carried out by EU and state funded projects. International co-operation focuses on the Baltic Sea region, especially on the areas of St Petersburg and Estonia. The main objectives are business development, logistics, transport, environment, efficient and secure borders and educational co-operation.

Regional Council of Kymenlaakso is also a member of CPMR (Conference of Peripheral Maritime Region). The organization´s aim is to ensure the interests of its member regions in the EU level decision-making.

The Kymenlaakso summer university is administrated by the Regional Council of Kymenlaakso. The summer university is in charge of adult education and open university education. The summer university operates throughout the year, promotes life-long learning and organizes various seminars and lecture series.

Tasks of Regional Council of Kymenlaakso 

• Regional Development
• Regional spatial planning
• Interest supervision
• International tasks
• Kymenlaakso summer university

 A reform of Finnish regional administration was carried out in 2010. Finland moved to a system of two regional administrative levels: municipalities and regions. Kymenlaakso and South Karelia form a co-operation region of about 315 000 inhabitants in South-East Finland.

Regional Council

 

Regional Board

 

Office Regional Mayor

 

Regional Management commitee
Municipality sector 7 members	State Regional Development authorities 7 members	Regional Trade union and business organizations 7 members
	Secretariat of the Management Committee

 

The chairman of the Regional Council is Mr Topias Kotiniemi from Kotka and the Chairman of the Regional Board is Mr Harri Helminen from Kouvola. The head of the operative office is Mr Tapio Välinoro the Regional Mayor. 

Kymenlaakso

• About 180 000 inhabitants
  
• One of the most significant forest industry clusters in Europe
  
• International logistics business and know-how center of the Baltic Sea region
  
• Versatile center of professional education and know-how.
  
• The most important customs and border station of the border between the European Union and Russia
  
• Largest garrison province in Finland
  
• Three national parks; Eastern Gulf of Finland, Valkmusa and Repovesi.
  
• Lively culture, examples of which include the philharmonic orchestra KymiSinfonietta, Kotka Maritime Festival , Military music event Hamina Tattoo, and the city theatres of Kouvola and Kotka.