Heads of Counties, Mr Komadina, Štromar and Vučić at the coordination meeting of Croatian members of the Central European Transport Corridor A coordination meeting of Croatian members of the CETC-EGTC

A coordination meeting of Croatian members of the Central European Transport Corridor – European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation, Ltd. (CETC-EGTC) was held at the County office today.
In addition to the Head of County Zlatko Komadina, Deputy Head Marko Boras Mandić, Head of the Department for Maritime Domain, Transport and Communication Nada Milošević and their co-workers, the meeting was attended by the Head of the Varaždin County Predrag Štromar, Head of the Karlovac County Ivan Vučić and representatives of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure. The meeting participants discussed the future of the corridor, the measures which the Grouping has undertaken to create the corridor and the opportunities it creates for the Republic of Croatia and for the Croatian members of the Grouping within the CETC-EGTC.
Mr Komadina stated that the initiative had been initiated as a regional undertaking and that the participants were informed regularly of everything by relevant institutions, but the government authorities needed to join the initiative to include Croatia in the corridor network, as it is crucial for everyone that the corridor runs through Croatia.
Mr Vučić agreed that the future of the project depended on support provided by the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, as it concerned a very important development direction for the Port in Rijeka and for Croatia, which would facilitate the selection of new projects.
Mr Štromar suggested that conferences devoted to these issues be organised on an annual basis, which would allow getting the public acquainted with the significance of the project.
“A number of our companies are interested in passing through the corridor, as the route is shorter and transport costs are reduced; it would be a pity not to make use of such an opportunity,” added Štromar.
Croatian Counties which are rightful members of the grouping agreed that as part of the cooperation with the relevant ministries, it is crucial to examine and identify further development opportunities of Croatian members within the Grouping which would be followed by initiating strategic actions in the field of transport at the national level.
They have established that letters of intent will be sent to the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, and the President of the Republic of Croatia will be informed of the meeting. Due to the fact that Minister Butković and the Polish Minister of Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation will visit Rijeka next Monday, the representatives of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County are planning to inform the minister of the outcomes of today’s meeting and of further agreements regarding the transport corridor.
The Agreement on Establishing the Central European Transport Corridor (CETC) was signed in 2004. The corridor connects the north and the south of Europe, running from the Skåne County, the narrowest part of Sweden, to the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County.
In the meantime, the above-mentioned agreement expired and was transformed into the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation Ltd., and a total of nine regions and counties in Sweden, Poland, Hungary and Croatia have joined the grouping since then, including three Croatian counties: the Varaždin County, the Karlovac County and the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County.
The objective of the grouping is to promote cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation between its members, to strengthen economic and social ties and promote transport accessibility.