ISRIA
“The best way to harness the potential of the Danube region is to blend the current forms of institutionalized cooperation and partnerships among local communities. We need a public-private partnership with the civil society,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs Teodor Baconschi on 9 June 2010, at the plenary session of the Conference on The EU Strategy for the Danube Region.
The event is organized by the European Commission, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism, during 9-11 June 2010, in Constanta and Tulcea.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Teodor Baconschi argued for the importance of this Strategy by giving two examples of Romania’s priority targets. “A first example, in the context of developing the Plan of Action for the Danube Strategy, is that of setting up an International Centre for Advanced Studies on The Danube – the Danube Delta – The Black Sea, which will run multi-disciplinary research activities and projects focused on the sustainable management of wetlands in the River – Delta – Coastal Area – Black Sea systems. Another field of interest for riparian countries is that of a regional energy market,” Minister Baconschi said.
European Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn congratulated Romania, as co-initiator of this Strategy, and underlined the important role of the riparian states’ cooperation in getting concrete results.
“The priority actions must serve the interest of the entire region, must be realistic and feasible. The Strategy will be judged by its results and the proposal we will submit at the end of the year will be accompanied by a Plan of Action in order that we should concentrate our efforts on a limited number of priorities,” said the European Commissioner during the opening session.