Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivan Mrkic took part in a Ministerial Meeting, held today in Bucharest, at the invitation of his Romanian colleague, Titus Corlăţean, on the eve of the Second Annual Forum of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR).

The Annual EUSDR Forum is organized by the European Commission, with the aim to incorporate EUSDR objectives into existing EU projects, and this year's Forum is expected to attract more than 700 participants.

Views have been exchanged at the Ministerial Meeting regarding the promotion of cooperation in the Danube Region, which is increasingly becoming important, and increasingly taking the hallmarks of the internal development of the European Union as well.

In his statement at the meeting, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivan Mrkic emphasized the importance Serbia attached to the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, and the synergy between the regional EU initiatives and the existing regional cooperation models. The Minister pointed to the need for improved access by the non-EU countries to the transnational and trans-border projects funded by the EU, primarily in the sectors of transport, environment protection, energy and information and communication technologies.

The meeting was concluded with the ratification of the Joint Declaration of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, with the aim to undertake concrete activities towards the implementation of the EUSDR objectives by the time the next meeting takes place in Vienna, in 2014.

EU Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn, Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Kristian Vigenin, Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Vytautas Leškevičius, in the capacity as the representative of the Lithuanian Presidency of the EU Council , German Ambassador to Romania, senior representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine, Moldova, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and other countries from the region attended the Meeting, among others.