The City of Vantaa’s international activities

Through its international activities, Vantaa promotes its strategic goals and develops as a city where agile services and flexible solutions create well-being and where sustainability is a key priority. In addition, ensuring international accessibility is of utmost importance to Vantaa due to our special logistical location.

The goal of all international activities of the City of Vantaa is to be coordinated, resource-efficient, and aligned with the city’s strategic objectives. Achieving these goals requires openness, strong connections, and smooth cooperation within networks of international partners.

Cities are also part of the European decision-making system. According to a study conducted by the Association of Finnish Municipalities in 2024, 45% of municipal decision-making originates from the European Union. Therefore, it is important for Vantaa to identify the EU decisions and decision-making phases that are relevant to the city’s operations and to engage in active and timely dialogue on them.

Networks and Twin Cities

Through networks and partnerships, Vantaa aims to learn good practices and solutions and to address the challenges the city faces.

City networks:

Eurocities

Eurocities is a network of large European cities with more than 200 member cities. Eurocities promotes both EU advocacy for cities and shared learning among them in order to provide better services to residents. In addition to Vantaa, the Finnish member cities of Eurocities are Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere, Oulu and Turku.

 Airport Regions Council

ARC is a European umbrella organisation for airport cities and regions that promotes cooperation in areas ranging from governance, economy, and environment to urban planning and mobility. ARC has operated for over 30 years at the forefront of advocacy and has around 30 members. From Finland, in addition to Vantaa, the Regional Council of Uusimaa is also part of the organisation.

Vantaa is an active participant, and the city manager is a member of its board. The ARC secretariat is located in Brussels.

UNESCO Learning Cities

UNESCO’s Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC) is a network of cities that promote lifelong learning, with more than 350 member cities from around the world. The network provides support for strategic and developmental work in lifelong learning, as well as opportunities for members to share experiences of good practices, new solutions, and innovations in education and teaching. In addition to Vantaa, the Finnish member cities in the network are Espoo and Tampere.

Nordic Safe Cities

The City of Vantaa is a member of the non-profit network Nordic Safe Cities, which focuses on strengthening safety in its Nordic member cities.

The network includes 21 Nordic member cities from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland. From Finland, Vantaa and Helsinki are members. Representatives of the City of Vantaa have participated in the network’s webinars and one-to-one discussions, as well as in the annual Nordic Democracy Forum, where the city’s various departments have been widely represented.

Child-Friendly Cities

The City of Vantaa participates in Finland’s UNICEF Child Friendly Municipality model and thereby also in the international UNICEF Child Friendly Cities network. The Child Friendly Municipality is a tool offered by UNICEF to help municipalities make decisions that support children’s well-being and ensure that children’s rights are fulfilled as well as possible in the everyday lives of all children, including those in more vulnerable situations. The network includes over 40 countries and, in Finland, 59 municipalities.

Twin cities

Vantaa has 9 twin cities:

• Boryspil, Ukraine
• Huddinge, Sweden
• Jinan, China
• District of Rastatt, Germany
• Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic
• Frankfurt (Oder), Germany
• Salgótarján, Hungary
• Słupsk, Poland
• District of Matte Yehuda, Israel