Delegations representing the Danube riparian countries, the EU Commission, the EU Council's presidency and the UNESCO will attend the informal meeting of the foreign ministers of the Danube riparian countries, due in Bucharest, on Nov 7-8.

According to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MAE) press release, the event initiated by Romania's Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi and his Austrian counterpart Michael Spindelegger, takes place under the High Patronage of Romania's President.

The meeting's agenda will focus on the macro-regional cooperation, which is significant for the enactment of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) in the decisive phase of the projects' implementation.

The event emphasizes the firm commitment of the authorities of the 14 states in the region to back up the implementation of the projects launched under the aegis of the Danube Strategy and to act energetically so that the complex mechanism managing the initiative should work efficiently.

The session devoted to the top diplomats of the Danube region will be followed by the Economic Forum on the Danube Strategy, due on Nov 8, and devoted to the civil society, the business and the academic environments of the Danube riparian countries, and will approach topics and initiatives regarding the sustainable development of the Danube area as an engine of the economic growth and a facilitator of the cultural exchanges.

The meeting happens one year after the Bucharest Summit (on Nov 2010) when there were established the major orientations of structuring the EU Strategy for the Danube Region. The EU Strategy for the Danube Region is an excellent instrument to meet the development challenges in the difficult current European and world context. The Strategy is expected to improve the cooperativeness in the region through innovation, research and technology and know-how transfer.

The EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) is a EU instrument of macro-regional cooperation in the European Union, whereto the 14 Danube riparian EU and third counties, namely Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, Bosnia Herzegovina and Montenegro) are invited to attend.

It was the EU Commission that drew up the Strategy in 2010 based on the contributions made by the riparian states, Romania included. At present, the Danube Strategy is at the implementation stage, after the European Council approved it on June 24, 2011.

Each riparian country implements the Strategy, which is aimed at the local regional and central public authorities, the civil society, the NGOs and the business environment, and whose participation in the public consultation process is encouraged.

The Strategy's final beneficiaries are all the citizens living in the region.

Romania is a co-initiator of EUSDR, along with Austria and it contributes to the enactment of the Danube Strategy together with the other riparian countries.

The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinates Strategy at the national level and it set up the Danube Strategy Office, for the purpose.