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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Third ministerial conference on Danube Cooperation Process opens

Belgrade, 18 April 2007

Serbian President Boris Tadic opened today the 3rd ministerial conference of the Danube Co-operation Process (DCP) at which apart from Serbian officials, other foreign ministers, EU member countries’ representatives and representatives of international organisations will also be present.

Author: Fonet

The conference will discuss and adopt the final document in which ministers will state their positions on current processes on the Danube, support some of the regional initiatives and reach agreement on the next ministerial conference to be held in Ukraine.

Some issues regarding Corridor 7, protection from floods, environmental protection and culture projects will also be looked at.

Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Draskovic addressed the gathering and said that the Danube links the most developed regions of Europe with other parts of it which are still in transition, adding that it is time the Danube became the main trade route in the continent.

Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik said that the Danube’s greatest potential is the diversity of people living on its banks which must be exploited for the betterment of Europe since the Danubian region must become the core of economic development.

The Danube is the main artery of a new and united Europe and a symbol of the essence of European unity, emphasised Plassnik and proposed that before summer a meeting of DCP officials be held since the next ministerial meeting will take place two years from now in Ukraine.

Special Co-ordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe Erhard Busek endorsed her initiative and invited all South Eastern European countries to invest more effort in the development of the Danube since mere 7-15% of the river’s transit capacity is being employed.

The Danube Co-operation Process began in 2001 as an Austrian-Romanian initiative and was joined in 2002 by the European Commission and the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe.

DCP gathers 13 Danubian countries whose territory gravitates toward the Danube and these are Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, Slovakia, Slovenia and Serbia.