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As the Hungarian ICPDR Presidency approaches its end, I wish to highlight
some of the progress achieved in 2005 by the contracting parties to the
Danube Protection Convention and their partners.
Efforts in 2005 worked to fulfil the commitments of the Ministerial Declaration
of December 2004, including submission of the WFD Danube Basin Analysis
Report to the EU in March. Beyond the routine work to implement arranged
programmes, 2005 was also a year of self-development and partnership-building
with the key actors of the Danube Basin. The first stakeholder conference
organised in Budapest on the second Danube Day was an important step towards
public involvement in the river basin planning process.
Significant progress was made in the field of sub-basin
cooperation by officially establishing the Sava Commission
in June and by launching the implementation
of the Tisza Memorandum of Understanding, signed
in December 2004. The ICPDR encourages further
sub-basin initiatives as important frameworks for integrated
river basin management and flood management
planning.
Bosnia and Herzegovina officially joined the ICPDR this year to make our
Danube family complete. To support the newest ICPDR member countries'
integration presidential missions visited Ukraine, Moldova, and
Bosnia and Herzegovina. Meetings with ministry representatives
helped to better understand these countries'
problems and priorities. The commitments made
by all three countries and the interest in improved
cooperation with the ICPDR are highly appreciated.
The outstanding cooperation with the UNDP GEF, the
main supporting partner of the ICPDR, must be emphasised.
To ensure sustainability of the current level
of activities, the ICPDR relies on continued support
from the GEF and other potential partners.
Finally I express my thanks to all ICPDR delegations
and the Secretariat for their work in 2005 and express
my hope that this year's fine-tuning of the commission
structure will ensure a continued high level of activities.
I wish the next presidency, Moldova, success, and
offer active support from Hungary in 2006.
István Õri,
Hungarian State Secretary of the Ministry of Environment
and Water and ICPDR President 2005.
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