On July 20, the European Commission included a Serbian project for renewing the Danube-Tisa-Danube river system and processing waste water in Belgrade in the draft version of its Danube Strategy, Serbian Deputy Prime MInister Bozidar Djelic has announced.

He added that the projects would receive EUR500 million in funding each.

Djelic headed a Serbian delegation during talks with representatives of the European Commission and Danube states on development projects in the areas of transportation, the economy, ecology, culture and tourism and European Corridor 7.

An international conference on the Danube will be held in Belgrade this September. The conference will be opened by European Commissioner for Regional Policy Johannes Hahn and European Investment Bank president Philippe Maystadt, Djelic added.

Djelic stressed that the Danube-Tisa-Danube system renewal project together with the Belgrade waste water processing project and others could receive EU funding as soon as 2013.

The most important thing is, that by becoming a part of the Danube Strategy, Serbia will be presented with the opportunity to draw several billion euros for Danube-related projects in Serbia in the EU's next budget period from 2014-2020.

The EU will adopt the final version of the Danube Strategy in December.

The Serbian delegation presented a project for the construction of a multipurpose Danube river hub in Serbia to the European Commission, which, if built, will be the biggest port on the Danube between Constanza and Vienna, and a converging point for rail, road and air traffic routes.