Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region

On October 28-29, 2013, the 2nd Annual Forum of the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) took place in Bucharest.

Last year's annual forum took place in Regensburg (Bavaria, Germany), addressing the EUSDR’s potential contribution to Europe's growth. This year the forum, titled "Danube Region – stronger together, stronger in the world" highlighted the need to increase the region’s competitiveness. In parallel to the forum, ministers for regional development for the EUSDR met to discuss ways of enhancing cooperation through concrete actions and projects across the EUSDR priority areas.

The forum also featured four thematic workshops. The CEF, coordinator of the priority area 10 of the EUSDR together with the City of Vienna, contributed to the workshop on the effectiveness and safety issues of the Danube region.

One of the side events where the CEF was actively involved was the 3rd Danube Financing Dialogue, hosted by the National Bank of Romania. The Danube Financing Dialogue is a platform connecting small and medium-sized enterprises from the whole Danube Region, international financing institutions and national funding sources. Irena Lukač from the CEF as the coordinator of priority area 10 chaired the introductory session, which examined the financing instruments that project promoters in the Danube region can use.

Photos of the event are available here.

The European Union Strategy for the Danube Region is a macroregional strategy adopted by the European Commission in 2010 and endorsed by the European Council in 2011. The strategy was designed to take advantage of synergies and coordination between existing policies and initiatives across the Danube region and thus improve connectivity within the region as well as with the rest of Europe. As part of the EUSDR, the CEF and the City of Vienna are coordinators of institutional capacity and cooperation, one of the eleven priority areas of the strategy. Further information on the EUSDR.