Yesterday evening, the Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Predrag Markovic, opened the Second European Conference of Danube Countries and Regions in Novi Sad.

At the invitation of the Council of the Danube Bureau and the vice-chairman of the Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Sandor Egeresi, and the mayor of the German city of Ulm, Ivo Gonner, Mr Markovic addressed the Conference, underlining that the National Assembly, as Serbia’s highest authority, would always support all beneficial activities taking place in Vojvodina. In his keynote address to the Conference, attended by the chairman of the Assembly and the Executive Council of Vojvodina, as well as the mayor of Novi Sad and mayors of over 30 cities along the Danube, foreign diplomats and the head of the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe, Erhard Busek, Mr Markovic stressed the importance of the Conference in linking and strengthening the Danube region.

“We are here today to discuss the Danube, but also Europe. We, who want to become an integral and equal part of the map of Europe, must know that Europe is not a traditional one-layer map, but rather a map with many transparent layers, and on each one there are different networks and different positions of centres of power – cultural, financial, economic, tourist. One of these layers is Danubian Europe, which today has its centre here in Novi Sad. But the Danube is not alone – it is an extension of all of its tributaries that make it what it is. Almost all Serbian rivers flow, directly or indirectly, into the Danube, and we know that the Danube grows in power along with the strength of its tributaries. The more connected and powerful cities are, the more powerful and richer Europe will be”, Mr Markovic stressed. Adding that the Danube Bureau was a place where contacts were made, where information was exchanged and development fostered, Mr Markovic concluded: “You are here today to make contacts and exchange information, and in return we will all have to swim upstream together and build bridges.”

The Second European Conference of Danube Countries and Regions is being organised in Novi Sad from 27 to 29 September 2005 by the Novi Sad Danube Bureau, the Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, and the Ulm Donaubüro.