OSIJEK OSIJEK, Oct 4 (Hina) - A two-day economic forum of a working community of Danube River basin regions ended in the eastern Croatian town of Osijek on Tuesday. Participants concluded regular annual economic forums should take
place as permanent conferences to promote the economic cooperation among community member countries. The Danube basin should be entwined into a network of trans-European transport routes, participants agreed, and adopted a traffic study by the working community's traffic and river navigation department. The participants also agreed the competition of member-countries in the context of European association processes and the opening of the market should be strengthened. Economic development could be spurred by investments among regions, where regional and local authorities should take on their part of responsibility in promoting their possibilities and needs. Speaking about the worki
OSIJEK, Oct 4 (Hina) - A two-day economic forum of a working
community of Danube River basin regions ended in the eastern
Croatian town of Osijek on Tuesday.
Participants concluded regular annual economic forums should take
place as permanent conferences to promote the economic cooperation
among community member countries.
The Danube basin should be entwined into a network of trans-
European transport routes, participants agreed, and adopted a
traffic study by the working community's traffic and river
navigation department.
The participants also agreed the competition of member-countries
in the context of European association processes and the opening of
the market should be strengthened.
Economic development could be spurred by investments among
regions, where regional and local authorities should take on their
part of responsibility in promoting their possibilities and
needs.
Speaking about the working table conclusions, a commissioner at the
Croatian Foreign Ministry, Zeljko Kupresak, said state authorities
should create a legal frame for stimulating foreign investments,
and local authorities should suggest concrete projects and remove
bureaucratic obstacles in their implementation.
"European associations and regional transfrontier cooperation are
parallel processes to which local and regional authorities can
contribute. The Croatian Danubian area is an area of important
traffic routes, including the future pan-European corridor 5c. The
renewal of navigation along the Danube is another factor which can
make this area interesting for foreign investments and open the
possibility of big projects such as the reconstruction of the
Vukovar river port," Kupresak said, assessing that the development
of infrastructure was a precondition for the region to become
attractive to foreign investors.
The conference presented the economic possibilities of the Danube
Basin Regions Working Community: Croatia, Slovakia, upper and
lower Austria, Vienna, Burgenland, Budapest and the Gyor-Moson-
Sopron provinces.
Hungary was present as a guest of the forum, as chair of the Central
European Initiative (CEI).
The economic forum was held under the auspices of the Croatian
Government, under the organisation of the foreign and economy
ministries, Osijek-Baranja and Vukovar-Srijem counties, the city
of Osijek and the Osijek Chamber of Commerce.
(hina) lml