Peeter Raudsepp, the Mayor of Tallinn, visited Helsinki on Wednesday 26 August. A delegation comprised of urban and transport planning experts, including Tiit Terik, Tallinn’s Deputy Mayor for Urban Planning, also took part in the visit.
“Tallinn is one of Helsinki’s most important cooperation partners, and we have been working together in close collaboration in areas such as tourism and logistics for a long time now. The meeting with Mayor Raudsepp further strengthened this cooperation between our two cities. The promotion of the Helsinki–Tallinn tunnel has been a particular focus, alongside the strengthening of our port collaboration,” said Mayor Sazonov.
The visit included a joint meeting between the mayors of Helsinki and Tallinn and representatives of both cities’ ports, at which the close cooperation between the ports was discussed. The discussions focused in particular on the ports’ joint opportunities and activities in EU project applications, the Green Corridor maritime traffic initiative and the promotion of tourism in Helsinki and Tallinn.
In addition to this, the mayors continued their discussion of a Helsinki–Tallinn tunnel entirety, which was identified in the spring as a key cooperation priority between the two cities.
The mayors’ meeting agreed on the next steps towards moving the Helsinki–Tallinn tunnel project forward. Helsinki and Tallinn will set up a new inter-city preparatory group to continue detailed preparation of the project. The situational picture of the tunnel project will be updated during the autumn in order to serve as a basis for this work, and previous preparatory work relating to the tunnel will be compiled in order to take concrete next steps.
During their visit, the representatives from Tallinn also familiarised themselves with Helsinki’s master plan, as Tallinn is embarking on the process of updating its own master plan. To conclude their visit, the Tallinn delegation visited Helsinki’s Musiikkitalo concert hall to learn about the building’s architecture and operating model.