On the 11th of February 2013 PDI took part in an informative meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Committee of Bulgaria and Romania on the Improvement of Navigability on the common Romanian-Bulgarian Section that took place in Bucharest, Romania. The meeting provided the participants with information on the state of play concerning the establishment of an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IC) between the two countries and the activities to be undertaken by the IC concerning the improvement of navigability on the common Romanian-Bulgarian section. The meeting was chaired by the Romanian Secretary of State for Transport and the Bulgarian Deputy Minister for Regional Development. Representatives of the EC - DG Regio, DG MOVE and DG Environment - as well as representatives of NGOs and other stakeholders attended the meeting.
The representatives of the concerned Ministries displayed the foreseen activities and the timeline. As concrete improvements of the navigability caused by the project activities can be expected not before 2018, the Secretary General of Pro Danube International (PDI), Mr. Manfred Seitz, stressed the need to include an Action Plan for short-term measures which shall guarantee minimum fairway standards, until the actual improvements of navigability take place. The Bulgarian Deputy Minister and the Romanian Secretary of State confirmed their awareness of the lack of short-term measures and indicated that such measures shall be elaborated, as part of the IC Action Plan as well as of the respective Projects. PDI will continue to monitor and support the further work of this inter-ministerial committee.