The enlargement of the EU has led to an enormous increase and strengthening of economic ties in the Danube Corridor and beyond. Intensification of trade has gone hand in hand with a rapid rise in the amount of traffic. Commercial transport along the Danube corridor has soared growing more than 100% in nearly all Danube countries within the last decade, with by far largest increase registered in road transit. It is expected that dynamic economic development in the next years and growing transport will lead to congestion. Therefore a balanced multimodal use of road, rail and waterway transport has to be ensured. EU transport policies to promote modal shift are driving investments in waterway infrastructure.

The International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR), Danube Commission (DC) and the International Sava River Basin Commission (SRBC) have joined forces to make sure that waterway development goes hand in hand with environmental protection. By developing a Joint Statement through a process of intensive, cross-sectoral consensus building between stakeholders from navigation, river ecology and water management in the Danube river basin, a common understanding on the protection of the riverine environment and the necessary processes and conditions for conducting and developing sustainable inland navigation was generated.

The Joint Statement aims to support sustainable and environmentally friendly development and improvement of navigation. It will serve as guiding document for structural infrastructure interventions and measures on rivers serving waterway transport. It has been formally approved on 11 March 2008.

≡ Press release
≡ Danube joint statement
≡ Sustainable rivers
≡ ICPDR
≡ via donau