The project "Increasing transport safety in the common Bulgarian-Romanian stretch of the Danube River by improving the response to emergency situations through cross-border cooperation" - Danube Safety Net - was successfully completed. This was reported during the closing meeting, which was held in the city of Ruse on October 6-7, 2022.
The Danube Safety Net project is a good example of effective cooperation aimed at achieving a higher level of transport safety, as well as implementing national and European priorities in the field of inland waterways.
According to the project, emergency rescue centers were built in Bulgaria and Romania. They will support Maritime Administration Executive Agency and the Romanian Maritime Administration in fulfilling their responsibilities, providing the necessary information resources, technical readiness and equipment.
An Action Plan was also developed for conducting joint search and rescue operations of the two partnering institutions in the common Bulgarian-Romanian stretch of the Danube River. It includes clearly established rules, principles, terms, conditions, powers and methods of response of each of the partners. Within the framework of the project, the necessary equipment was also delivered to the two Maritime Administrations.
The participants in the meeting also discussed future joint actions, as well as the possibilities for the two Maritime Administrations to ensure better navigation and safety along the river, which is an important European navigation artery and is part of the main Trans-European Transport Corridor Rhine-Danube.
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The project "Increasing transport safety in the common Bulgarian-Romanian stretch of the Danube River by improving the response to emergency situations through cross-border cooperation" with the acronym Danube Safety Net, is implemented under the Cross-border Cooperation Program INTERREG V-A Romania-Bulgaria 2014-2020. Its main goal is to increase the level of transport safety along the common Bulgarian-Romanian stretch of the Danube River. Partners in the project are the Romanian Maritime Administration and the Executive Agency "Maritime Administration", which is also the lead partner. The total budget of the project is EUR 5,699,612, of which 85% is provided by the European Regional Development Fund, and the remaining 15% is national co-financing.