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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Austria, Serbia discuss way to improve Danube navigability

Belgrade, 1 September 2005

Serbian Minister of Capital Investment Velimir Ilic said following a meeting with Austrian State Secretary for Transport Helmut Kukacka that the navigability of the Danube was the main topic in the talks as well as the improvement of cooperation between Serbia and Austria’s river transport sectors.

Ilic said that the Sloboda bridge in Novi Sad will be opened for traffic on October 10 or 11 and he stressed that after the removal of the pontoon bridge, navigation on the Danube will have no more obstacles in Serbia.

Ilic said several Serbian-Austrian joint projects are under way and he expressed the hope that they will be completed very soon. According to him, the projects include the clearing up of remaining mines and ship debris from the Danube’s riverbed as well as the reconstruction of the Djerdap dam.

Ilic thanked Austria on its assistance and investment in projects concerning the navigability of the Danube and he expressed hope that the cooperation between Serbia and Austria in this field will be continued.

Ilic also pointed to a significant presence of Austrian firms in Serbia’s road and railway transport industries and he recalled that Austrian contractors have successfully carried out the latest works on Mount Kopaonik.

Kukacka recalled that Austria will take over the EU’s rotating presidency next year and that it will focus on the utilisation of waterways. This will have great significance given the EU’s enlargement agenda and the admission of new members, especially Balkan countries, according to Kukacka.

Kukacka said that improving and intensifying the use of waterways, in order to switch from road transportation to river transportation, especially along the Danube river, is of great significance to Austria, especially in the context of the EU enlargement to the East.

He said that the EU had also drafted an action plan on the use of waterways that would, along the contained positions of the member countries, be completed with the sub-Danube countries’ positions. A conference regarding these issues and the use of waterways will be held in the beginning of next year in Vienna.

Kukacka said that he also talked with Ilic about strengthening the cooperation in inland navigation, the construction of the port infrastructure system, and the establishing of a river information system, and added that today’s meeting was seen as one possibility for bringing closer the positions of Serbia-Montenegro and the EU.