Floods "showed importance of regional cooperation"

Floods "showed importance of regional cooperation"

On behalf of Serbia, the first deputy prime minister and foreign minister thanked the countries participating in the meeting for their solidarity with Serbia shown after the country was hit by the devastating flooding in the second half of May.

"The help that the countries of the region have extended to the Republic of Serbia, and also to our neighbors affected by the floods, shows that we here in the region are closest to each other. It is on this very standpoint that we have based our commitment to strengthening all aspects of regional cooperation, which is one of the foreign policy priorities of the Republic of Serbia," Dačić said.

He said that experience from the Central European Initiative, the Regional Cooperation Council, the South-East European Cooperation Process, the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative, the EU Strategy for the Adriatic-Ionian region, the drawing up of which is underway, and other regional cooperation mechanisms, can be of great benefit for the EUSDR.

"We see regional cooperation as part of the process to speed up our accession to the European Union, something that Serbia is devoted to completely. As a country of the Danube region and a country on the path toward EU membership, the Republic of Serbia welcomes full participation of the European Commission in joint activities of the EUSDR. We want to fully contribute to meeting the EU 2020 goals, although we are yet to join the EU," he noted.

As part of the EUSDR, Serbia is already implementing important projects, such as the reconstruction of the Žeželj bridge in Novi Sad worth EUR 45 million, the renovation of the Golubac Fortress worth EUR 6.5 million, the construction of the Veliko Gradiste water supply system worth EUR 4.4 million, the introduction of the River Information System (RIS) on the Danube River worth EUR 10 million et cetera, Dačić said.

"A call for project proposals relating to the Danube Strategy, an EUR 7 million program prioritizing environmental risk management, has been made through the IPA program of cross-border cooperation between Serbia and Romania for the first time," said Dačić.

The Danube River has also been recognized as a horizontal priority, through the IPA program of cross-border cooperation between Serbia and Hungary.

Together we can achieve much more than each of us on our own. Serbia will continue its engagement as a responsible and devoted partner that can be counted on, he concluded.

The EUSDR is an important contribution to regional cooperation, said Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz.

He pointed out that the 14 countries of the Danube region are working together to achieve goals such as establish closer ties within the Danube region, improve environmental protection, etc, despite the fact that some are EU members and some are not yet in the Union.

Economy can only be successful where high quality of administration is ensured through mistakes being reduced and transparency increased, he said.

It is important for the Danube region countries to grow closer together, an effort that calls for improvement of transportation infrastructure, increased tourism cooperation, particularly in terms of cultural heritage, and also dialogue between cultures, he said.

"If the region is to grow closer, we have to contribute considerably to the inter-cultural and inter-ethnic dialogue. Cultural diversity is a great chance for the entire region," Kurz said.