Monthly Activities Report – January 2011
- 11th January 2011: Working Visit at the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe, Vienna
Janez Podobnik Director of the International ECPD Institute for Sustainable Development (Institute) and coordinator for ICAM (Integrated Coastal Area Management) projects made a visit to Erhard Busek Ph.D., Director-General of the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe in Vienna. The main topic of the visit was the presentation of different projects on the Danube region that had already been presented at the first ICAM conference in Ljubljana (10-11th November 2010).
The project that was the most addressed at the meeting is ‘The contribution of the SME sector to the development of the Sava basin with the Danube region.’ The project was launched by the Institute of Economic Science from Belgrade, Serbia. Mr. Podobnik acquainted Mr. Busek with the interest that was expressed by the International Sava River Basin Commission (ISRBC) in Zagreb, especially Dejan Komatina Ph.D. the Secretary of the ISRBC.
Mr. Busek is known as a great expert on the Danube region, especially regarding economic, environmental and scientific questions. He showed great interest in the project and advised to link the project with the new EU Danube region strategy. He showed his full readiness to co-work on the project with his institute – especially through passing of his knowledge to other partners in the project. He expressed a wish to visit the ECPD headquarters in Belgrade and ICPE in Ljubljana.
- 17th January 2011: Working Visit at the Institute for Economic Research, Ljubljana
Janez Podobnik Director of the Institute visited the Institute for Economic Research (IER) in Ljubljana, led by Boris Majcen Ph.D. In the discussion which was also attended by Damijan Kavaš M.Sc., Mr. Podobnik suggested for the IER to join the ICAM project ‘The contribution of the SME sector to the development of the Sava basin with the Danube region’. IER accepted the invitation and confirmed its active involvement in the project. It is planned for IER to cooperate (together with economic institutes from Zagreb, Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Belgrade) on ‘Analysis of possibilities, evaluation of options and the extent of the SME sector contribution to sustainable development of the Sva river basin (SWOT analysis)’.
On 24th February a roundtable on investigating possibilities for contribution of the SME sector to sustainable development of the Sava (Danube) river basin will be held in Zagreb, Croatia. Mr. Podobnik as the coordinator of the ICAM project managed to – in addition to ICPE and ECPD - draw in as partners to the project the following institutions: Regional Posavje Development Agency, Economic Chamber of Slovenia – Chamber of Ljubljana and the already mentioned IER from Ljubljana.
- 26th January 2001: Cooperation on the public presentation of the ‘EU Danube Strategy’ in Eurocenter in Ljubljana
The representatives of the ICPE and the ECPD and the presentation were: Matjaž Mulej Ph.D., Igor Cotič M.Sc., Aleksander Zdravkovič M.Sc., David Tavželj and Janez Podobnik. The State secretary Ms. Andreja Jerina M.Sc. presented together with guests from the Eucopean Commission and representatives of different government bodies from Slovenia presented the basic facts about the new EU Danube strategy. In the following discussion Mr. Mulej emphasized the importance of social responsibility as an integral part of the strategy. In addition he stressed social responsibility as one of the crucial elements for the new concept of sustainable water-management presented at the international ICAM conference in Ljubljana. In the new strategy it is evident that the two projects can realistically hope to gain European financial and development support: ‘Recreational and Long Distance Tourist Bicycle Lanes along Sava River, Connecting Capital Cities Ljubljana, Zagreb and Belgrade’ (coordinator Mr. Igor Cotič) and ‘The contribution of the SME sector to the development of the Sava basin with the Danube region.’. The representatives of both projects used the event to hold separate talks with Ms. Jerina.
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