Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Regional Development Mladjan Dinkic said that the development of the Danube tourism is important for Serbia and all countries which the Danube traverses.

Dinkic and Director of the German Organisation for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) for Serbia Stumpf Uwe signed an agreement for the implementation of the project Regional Programme for the Establishment of the Danube Centre for Competence in order to strengthen the region's middle and lower Danube basin in Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Moldova.

Dinkic added that the German government is assisting the project financially through the GTZ, recalling that the realisation will take five years. He also noted that when it comes to river transportation, the largest number of passengers in Europe travel on the Danube.

The Minister stressed that in 2003 a total of 17,000 foreign tourists visited Serbia and 109,000 in 2009. In 2003 only 141 ships docked at the Serbian harbours along the Danube and in 2009 as many as 800, which shows that the number of foreign tourists is increasing year on year.

German Ambassador to Serbia Wolfram Maas recalled that in the European history the Danube has always occupied a key spot, adding that the initiative of Serbia and the Serbian Tourist Agency to set up the Danube Centre for Competence is an outstanding example of regional cooperation.

Maas said that the Danube Centre for Competence will help to improve the region from Croatia to the Black Sea as regards tourism.

He announced that representatives from all six countries will gather in Belgrade on 23 February when the statute of the Danube Centre is also to be adopted.

The Ambassador added that the project has two stages. The German government is financing the first stage with €2 million and the second with the same or even larger amount of funds, depending on how the project develops.

The goal of the Danube Centre for Competence is to encourage the tourist region of the middle and lower Danube basins and tourism entities representing the interests of Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Moldova.

The main activities of this centre are to promote the tourist offer of the middle and lower Danube, the economic development of the region, as well as to raise funds for their further development.