VIENNA: COOPERATION PROCESS IN DANUBIAN REGION

VIENNA, May 27 (Hina) - Representatives of 13 countries launched an initiative on cooperation in the Danubian region in Vienna on Monday. The aim of the initiative is to strengthen cooperation in economy, navigation on the Danube river, environmental protection, tourism and culture. #L# The new initiative includes countries of the Danubian region: Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Moldavia, Ukraine, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Yugoslavia, as well as the European Commission and the Stability Pact. The initiative is expected to contribute to the deepening of overall cooperation among Danubian countries, Austrian Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner said in her opening speech. She said the establishment of the process of cooperation in the Danubian area was a historical event. Croatian Deputy Foreign Minister Vesna Cvjetkovic Kurelec said Croatia saw the cooperation process in the Danubian area as "the continuation of building on the existing forms of regional cooperation". The Coordinator of the Stability Pact, Erhard Busek, described today's event as the start of a new cooperation. He added that the "chief goal in the overall cooperation is to secure navigation on the whole of Danube, which was prevented by various crises, and financially affected many countries." The European Commission's representative for external affairs, Chris Patten, said it was the right time to develop ties and cooperation among Danubian countries, especially the ten south- eastern European states which, he said, should forget the past and focus on the future and prepare for accessing the European Union. Rumanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase said the next conference would take place in Bucharest in 2004. (hina) lml sb