At the beginning of the meeting, the National Assembly Speaker addressed the participants:

Ladies and gentlemen, honoured friends,

Serbia and the entire region have been in an economic crisis for years now. The inevitable and comprehensive, deep changes the economy needs can be implemented if have a clear vision of the economic future and achievable development goals in the modernisation process. The current processes of integration of the European and global market and the considerable limitations characterizing the domestic economic environment clearly demonstrate the need to integrate the national strategies with their regional counterparts. The Danube Strategy is an example of such a comprehensive regional strategy of the European Union, based on three pillars: establishing and developing a safe river transport system and the accompanying infrastructure, environmental protection and sustainable use of natural resources, as well as economic growth and strengthening of regional cooperation and partnership in the region.

Serbia took part in the development of the Strategy giving a significant contribution to the internal EU document. Historically speaking, the Danube has always had a strategic importance for Serbia, as it continues to do today having become an “internal” EU waterway after Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU. The Danube is a trans-European corridor and the most basic waterway through EU territory. Through the Rhine it is connected, via canals, with the North Sea and is a direct waterway connecting the North and Black seas. These circumstances best illustrate the importance of the “first pillar” of the strategy by which the EU strives to establish and develop a safe river transport system and the accompanying infrastructure on the entire Danube. The second pillar, environmental protection and sustainable use of natural resources through the meeting of the European Union water requirements and standards, is one of our country’s priorities and an important requirement of the European integration process. The application of the EU Water Framework Directive is one of the activities leading to harmonisation with European standards, especially through cooperation within the activities of the Danube Commission. The third pillar, socio-economic development, is of particular interest for Serbia as a multi-ethnic state, as it includes the development of neighbourly relations, promotion of human rights, cultural differences, exchange of knowledge and rights of national minorities.

The stability of all three pillars of the Danube region is of strategic importance for the EU as this is an economically, environmentally and culturally heterogeneous area, and at the same time the countries in the region share numerous resources and close ties. This means that events in one part of the region spread quickly and affect the entire region. The Danube basin is home to 115 million EU citizens, i.e. one in five citizens. The Danube basin covers 800,000 km2, and the lives of almost 20 million people directly depend on the river, yet the navigation on the Danube is only 10% that of the navigation taking place on the Rhine. By raising the navigation capacity on the Black Sea-North Sea axis by 30%, about 5 billion tons of cargo could be redirected to the waterway. The Danube Strategy is not focused solely on the states the Danube flows through, but the entire Danube basin, covering 14 states, 8 of which are EU members, from Germany at the origin to Ukraine where the Danube empties into the Black Sea. The strategy is based on a “macro regional” approach, a new EU approach strengthening the synergy among different policies and coordinating the efforts of a wide spectrum of actors (regions, municipalities, international organisations, financial institutions, socio-economic partners and civil society) within the concept of sustainable development.

Cooperation has already started to develop in the region, especially through the EU’s cohesion policy and the South-East Europe transnational programme. The Structural Funds are at our disposal, as are other sources of funding such as international financial institutions like the European Investment Bank, as well as funding gained via national, regional and local authorities.

We should not forget that most of the participating countries were hit hard by the economic and financial crisis. So, the Danube cooperation will play a key role in stimulating programmes aimed at reviving the economy – for example improving the manner in which we use the existing funds will be a priority task. I am sure that the jointly developed programmes will become practical ways to realise this vision. Even non-EU member countries are taking part in the Strategy. If we manage to implement joint projects, this can be a good opportunity to include them into the Union’s common policies. Currently, more than 30 projects to be funded by EU funds are in the works, more than 15 are in the preparation stage, while about 10 projects are in the idea stage.

The programmes which would include close economic cooperation relate to transport, infrastructure, environmental protection and tourism which is a considerable, yet still underdeveloped, economic potential for Serbia, especially in view of all the opportunities offered by the Danube and its passage through Serbia.

Overall, the Danube Strategy was conceived for the purpose of improving the prosperity, security and peace for the people living in the region, especially through strengthening cross-border, trans-regional and transnational cooperation and coordination.

Serbia’s position as regards its participation in the European Union’s comprehensive strategy for the Danube region comprises the realisation of a series of strategic activities on its territory within all three priority spheres.

As regards the environmental protection priority sphere, meeting the European Union water requirements and standards is an important pre-requisite for our country’s European integration process.

Through the Danube Strategy, the European Union strives to strengthen the Black Sea region’s geostrategic position since the Danube and its canals and the river Rhine connect the North and Black Sea. The Danube region is an interconnected area with heterogeneous economic capacities and regional differences where the uniform strategy will boost integrated development. This is especially important for Serbia since 587.4 km of the Danube flows through our country.

Ladies and gentlemen, honoured friends, your exchange of experiences and the fact that you had the opportunity in the past two days to together gain new experiences by travelling down the Danube, I am sure, will draw us closer together and closer to the river which has been connecting us since the times of the first settlements, which you will, I hope, have the opportunity to see in our country, on the Danube, at Lepenski Vir.

I wish you success and excellent cooperation.

Thank you!