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| Signing of the Sava River Agreeement in Kranjska Gora (Slovenia) in December 2002 |
This Stability Pact Initiative for the Sava River Basin is designed to
establish and develop an internationally recognized partnership between
four countries: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia and Yugoslavia, and
to support the countries’ concerted effort to define, promote and organise
the Sava Basin water and related resources. The first priority involves
the re-establish-ment and development of navigation on the Sava River and
its main tributaries, the Drina and the Una.
By signing a Letter of Intent in Sarajevo on November 28, 2001, the four
riparian countries of the Sava Basin committed themselves to establishing
a suitable institutional framework (International Framework Agreement).
On October 22, 2002, a working group created within the Sava Initiative
agreed on the text of the Draft International Framework Agreement on the
Sava Basin. The ICPDR Secretariat has pledged to support the Sava Basin
Initiative in the frame of the implementation of the EU Water Framework
Directive (WFD) and has pointed out the need to harmonise the activities
of the Sava Basin Initiative with the ongoing efforts of the ICPDR River
Basin Management Expert Group. The UNDP/GEF Danube Regional Project will
support the development of a pilot River Basin Management Plan for testing
the modalities of implementing the EU WFD.
In its last meeting, the ICPDR Steering Group welcomed the preparation of
a pilot project for the development of a River Basin Management Plan for
the Sava River Basin, recommended that the River Basin Management Group
should cooperate with the Sava Project and suggested that a coordinating
body for the preparation of the Sava River Basin Management Plan should
be established.