Meeting: Revitalization of the Danube region through cleaning of channels and the development of local tourism with the help of EU funds

On May 25th, 2017 Danube Competence Center and Ms. Iris Eberl deputy of the German Bundestag have organized a meeting with the subject:  Revitalization of the Danube region through cleaning of channels and the development of local tourism with the help of EU funds.

The meeting was attended by the representatives of The Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection, Provincial Administration and Local Self-Government, relevant public institutions and academic society, GIZ Serbia and German Development Bank (KfW).

Ms. Iris Eberl in her opening speech expressed willingness and desire to give support to the development of the sustainable tourism on the channels of Vojvodina.

Vice President of the Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina took participation. In his opening speech he emphasized that the drainage system is crucial for the development of agriculture, the most important economic sector in the province.

First topic on the agenda was the cleaning of canals in Vojvodina. Experts in this field from the Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Vladica Božić and from University of Novi Sad, department of water, dr. Jasna Grabić and dr. Atila Bezdan presented work on the project Cleansing of the “Great Backi channel”, that has been declared the most polluted channel in Europe, with 404,000 m³ of contaminated sludge contaminated with pathogens, heavy metals and toxic chemicals.

Second topic on the agenda was development of local tourism on the canals of the Danube-Tisa-Danube. Boris Čamernik, Secretary General of the Danube Competence Center together with tourism expert Jasmina Beljan Iskrin and Aleksandra Dolapčev, Market manager from NTOS, led the participants through touristic innovations in Vojvodina and future plans for developing nautical tourism products on channels.

Final topic was the availability of EU funds. Natalija Matunović Milošević, an expert for IPA EU pre-accession funds, from the European Integration Office shared with the audience what types of funds exist, or which projects can be supported by the EU and described the process of applying for co-financing projects.