This year could see the beginning of construction works on corridor Vc (which is to run from the Hungarian border through Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina to the Ploce port), railways are being modernised, and the two biggest border crossings - Bregana and Bajakovo - are being reconstructed with the help of the CARDS project, Suker said at the high-level meeting which pooled government officials from nine Southeast European countries and Kosovo.
The meeting, focusing on the establishment of joint frameworks for regional cooperation in facilitating trade and transport, was organised by the World Bank and supported by the European Commission, the Stability Pact for South-East Europe, and representatives of other international financial institutions.
The World Bank director for Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania, Anand K. Seth, attended the event as well.
Countries in the region in 2001 launched the first Trade and Transport Facilitation in Southeast Europe programme (TTFSE), which covers Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldavia, Romania and Serbia and Montenegro.
The programme has already yielded considerable results, for example by facilitating border crossing procedure on 30 border crossings and terminals in the region in 2004 alone some $64 million was saved, the time needed to complete customs procedure was reduced by 63 percent, the time needed to cross the border by 80 percent, etc.
The first TTFSE, worth around 120 million dollars, has already been completed in three countries, including Croatia.
Of that amount, $22 million was invested in Croatia, of which 13.9 million was a World Bank loan, 1.9 million was a donation from the US government, and 6.2 million was secured from the government budget, Minister Suker said.
The programme included institutional reforms of the customs procedure, the computerisation of the Customs Administration, and the construction of four major border crossings, which cost $11.5 million.
A World Bank consultant, Vladimir Skenderovic, said that most countries were interested in the second part of the programme, which was being prepared. TTFSE II is expected to focus on border cooperation between the countries in the region, relieving bottlenecks along corridors, etc, Skenderovic said.
The new programmes would refer to the main regional traffic routes agreed between the EU and neighbouring countries. Today's meeting is expected to contribute to bringing Southeast Europe closer to the EU accession programme in the sectors of trade and transport.