Members of Hansa Union assembled in Veliki Novgorod - 27 September, 2002

At the conference in Veliki Novgorod (500 kilometres north-west of Moscow) the members of the Hansa Union of New Time which includes 97 cities of Europe are examining the 1,000-year history of Hansa from the Middle Ages to the present day.

As officials of the foreign economic relations and tourism department of the Mayor's Office of Veliki Novgorod said, the international seminar Partnership of the Hansa Union of New Time with the Historical Cities of Russia began its work at the Novgorod Centre of Music Culture. At its opening Professor of Novgorod University Vasily Andreyev familiarised the representatives of the Hansa Union with the study The Russian Page in the History of Hansa.

Veliki Novgorod, Tver and Veliki Ustyug represent Russia in the Union.

At the 22nd Hansa forum in the city of Bruges Belgium) it was decided that Veliki Novgorod would host the 29th Hansa Days in 2009.

According to deputy head of the Novgorod administration Alexander Vasilyev who represented Veliki Novgorod at the Hansa Days of 2002 in Bruges, the taken decision to hold the Hansa forum in Russia shows that the Europeans have been getting accustomed to treat inhabitants of Russia as equal partners in the Hansa Union of New Time.