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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Danube projects to attract European funds

Belgrade, 6 April 2010

Deputy Prime Minister for EU integration and national coordinator for cooperation with the EU in the Danube region, Bozidar Djelic stated today that Serbia must use the opportunity offered by the Danube strategy to obtain European funds.

Author: www.infobiro.rs

Speaking at the opening of the Danube Strategy and Knowledge Economy conference at the Institute for International Politics and Economy, Djelic said that Serbia will have an opportunity to make progress in the infrastructure sector and socio-economic development through projects which will be presented from 19 to 20 April at international conferences in Vienna and Bratislava.

This is a great opportunity for Serbia and we must use it in the right way, said Djelic.

The Danube or Corridor 7, is one of 10 European transport corridors and the EU has defined three priorities for its further development, he said.

These priorities are transport and infrastructure, ecology and socio-economic development and equal regional development. Consultations regarding the draft of a macro-regional Danube strategy are continuing, he said.

The formal adoption of this strategy by the European Commission is expected to take place during the second half of this year, so that the document may be finally passed during the first half of 2011, under the Hungarian presidency of the EU, Djelic said.

A conference will be held in Belgrade in September to examine the most important and difficult question – financing the Danube strategy until the new EU 2014 EU budget cycle, said Djelic.

Serbia has decided to set aside €20 million to €30 million from pre-accession funding for 2011 to finance small projects and to show the EU that it has the capacity to absorb future financing for Danube strategy projects with European funds.

The national coordinator for cooperation with the EU for the Danube recalled that 588 kilometres of the Danube run through Serbia, which is one quarter of the river’s navigable flow.

He added that the Danube runs through 24 municipalities of Serbia.

Municipalities are encouraged to use EU funds for cross-border cooperation with municipalities of other countries that are on the banks of the Danube, he said and reiterated that Serbia has projects which should utilise the potential of the Danube.

Assistant Minister of Science and Technology Nada Dragovic said traffic on the River Rhine is 10 times greater than the Danube while the Danube is three times more polluted.

Knowledge economy is one of the pillars of the strategy of the Danube, and Serbia needs to find ways to improve the education sector and work on projects related to strengthening of the river Danube, concluded Dragovic.

The aim of the conference is the promotion of intellectual capacity that will influence Serbia’s success in cooperation with the EU in the preparation of a comprehensive Danube strategy.

The conference is being organised by the Cabinet of Deputy Prime Minister Djelic in cooperation with the International Scientific Forum “Danube – the River of Cooperation“, the Jaroslav Cerni Institute and the Institute for International Politics and Economy.