Ministry representatives from Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Moldova presented national rail infrastructure programmes. Representatives of Serbia and Montenegro did not attend due to the recent rail accident near Podgorica.
The joint declaration provides for the construction of a rail network connecting the capitals of the region by 2020.
Croatia's priority is investing in transport corridors that are part of pan-European rail corridors, Branimir Jerneic, assistant transport minister for rail transport, told the meeting referring to Axis 10, which goes from Salzburg via Ljubljana and Zagreb to Belgrade, Skopje and Thessaloniki, Axis 5b from Rijeka to Zagreb and Budapest, and Axis 5c, from Budapest via Osijek and Sarajevo to Ploce.
Jerneic also said Croatia had managed to draw funds from ISPA, the European Union's programme for rail transport. The funds will be used to upgrade 38 km of the Vinkovci-Tovarnik railway, for which the EU will set aside EUR35 million.