Romania takes over Presidency of EU Strategy fo the Danube Region from Bulgaria

Romania has taken over on Friday the Presidency of the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region from Bulgaria, a press release of the Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) sent to AGERPRES informs.

According to the cited source, Minister-delegate for European Affairs Victor Negrescu participated on Friday in Sofia in the seventh edition of the Annual Forum of the EU strategy for the Danube Region.

The end of the event was marked by the ceremony of Romania's taking over the rotating presidency of the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region, the Bulgarian deputy minister for Regional Development and Public Works, Denita Nikolova being the one who offered the Romanian official the symbol of the mandate that our country will exercise between 1 November 2018 and 31 October 2019.

According to MAE, Romania intends to promote four topics while in office: improving connectivity and mobility in the Danube region by promoting transport, tourism, digitisation and networking; reviving the European Strategy for the Danube Region by creating synergy amongst all the actors involved and the European Commission, as well as operationalising the Secretariat of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region; experience exchanges in priority areas of the macro-strategy, namely the transnational cluster development through the exchange of good practices between the entities participating in the EU Strategy for the Danube Region.

The Romanian presidency of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region will take place under the motto "We strengthen cohesion for common prosperity in the Danube region", intended in synergy with the motto of Romania's Presidency of the Council of the European union as of next year's first semester, "Cohesion, a shared European value."

The timetable of Romania's Presidency of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region features over 50 meetings and events. According to Victor Negrescu, Romania's major objective while exercising its mandate is to relaunch this cooperation mechanism, a successful initiative of our country at European level.

"Romania's Presidency of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region will also represent a chance to promote the added value of the macroregional strategies, given that four member states of the the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, Bulgaria, Austria, Romania and Croatia have exercised or will also exercise until 2020 the rotating Presidency of the EU Council. In this sense, we are already actively working with representatives of the European Commission and with those of the riparian states in order to create the premises of a consolidated cooperation platform that will contribute to the accomplishment of economic, social and territorial cohesion of the states in the region," Negrescu further affirmed.