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Lajcak: It's Important to Keep Danube River Navigable
Thursday 25 February 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Budapest, February 25 (TASR) - It's immensely important for Slovakia to keep the Danube River navigable and to make use of the potential it offers, Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak said at an international conference in Budapest on Thursday.
The 'Strategy of the Danube Region of the European Union' conference was attended by premiers and foreign affairs ministers of 14 countries of the Danube River micro-region.
"We view the Danube River as a transport means in the first place, then as a source of water, and third as an opportunity for social and economic development and tourism," Lajcak told TASR.
Lajcak said that it would be premature to talk about any specific conclusions; the participants adopted a declaration that reflects a certain direction and brings forward a time-frame for firming up the strategies.
Touching the lasting dispute between Slovakia and Hungary on the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros waterworks system, Lajcak said that he wouldn't overestimate this issue. He noted that the dispute has been ongoing for 18 years and the Danube – the EU's largest river and second only to the Volga in the wider Europe – is still navigable.
"Our positions are clear and they won't change, neither our, nor the Hungarian one ... the Danube River connects us, it doesn't divide us and it's necessary to use the huge potential the river offers," according to Lajcak.
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