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The Seventeenth International Scientific Conference "Danube - River of Cooperation" took place from November 2nd to 6th 2006, in Belgrade, Smederevo, Golubac and Donji Milanovac.

Organised jointly with the Association for the Advancement of International Cooperation for Sustainable Development of Tourism in the Danube Region

FINAL DOCUMENT

The conference was organised with the aim to discuss cultural-historical heritage as a resource for developing tourism and the possibilities of various forms of trans-border cooperation, having in mind the support given to these projects by the European Union in the frame of its Neighbourhood programme. The hosts of the Conference were the Institute of International Politics and Economics in Belgrade, Public Enterprise "National Park Djerdap" in Donji Milanovac and the Tourist Organisation of Golubac Municipality in Golubac.

In accordance with the traditions of the conferences "Danube - River of Cooperation", this year’s conference was opened by the Minister of trade, tourism and services, Bojan Dimitrijević on Thursday November the 2nd in Belgrade, at the Institute of International Politics and Economics. The Conference was also greeted in the name of the Secretariat for Economy of the Executive Council of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina by Erne Varnju, assistant of the secretary for tourism and in the name of the host of the Belgrade session, the Institute of International Politics and Economics, by Duško Dimitrijević, assistant director for scientific sector.

On the ceremonial opening of the Conference minister Bojan Dimitrijević talked about the importance of the recently adopted Strategy for development of tourism in Serbia until 2015. He emphasized that the Strategy is the most important plan and development document which insures integrated planning of tourism development on the territory of Serbia, provides guidelines for issuing short and long term economical measures by the state and local governments, instruments for supporting their implementation, as well as basis for successful domestic and foreign investments. The Minister emphasised that the goal of the Strategy is defining the vision of tourism development in Serbia and the action plan for implementing the proposed measures with clearly defined deadlines and responsibilities, based on a previous analysis of the results of Serbian tourism policy so far and of the current developments on the international tourism market. The starting point for the Strategy is the already achieved levels of development in various geographical areas in Serbia and local resources of each area. The vision of tourism development, touristic products, as well as competitiveness and marketing programs were defined on that basis, with the aim to develop Republic of Serbia into a competitive destination.

Minister Dimitrijević pointed out the importance of the Danube and the towns of the Danube-region within this context, and acknowledged the perseverance of the International Scientific Forum "Danube - River of Cooperation" in directing attention, for almost twenty years now, to the unutilized resources for sustainable development of tourism in the Danube region.

Professor Edita Stojić-Karanović, president-founder of the International Scientific Forum "Danube - River of Cooperation" thanked for the acknowledging words. She emphasized that the greatest success of this organisation (that weave into a harmonies mosaic the aspirations of around 2000 individuals, from scientists and experts in various fields to aficionados of Danube and water sports) is that, by constantly pointing to the importance of Danube for the sustainable development of Serbia, it contributed to the state accepting the responsibility for organising and structuring the system of sustainable use of natural and cultural-historical potentials of the Danube and its region for the development of tourism as a branch of economy that will induce and pull the development of other branches.

On the first working session, the introductory, under the title Cultural-historical monuments as a resource for sustainable development of tourism, was given by architect Slobodan Mitrović. Presentations of projects from Vojvodina and of the possibilities of fully utilizing natural and cultural-historical resources in the programme of neighbourhood cooperation of the EU followed. Erne Varnju, Assistant of the provincial secretary for economy, talked about the Initiative for establishing the Euro region Upper Danube and about other initiatives on the territory of Vojvodina. The project "Study of marina network in Vojvodina" was presented by Miroslava Kostić, coordinator of the project and counsellor to the Provincial Secretary of economy for the affairs of tourism. The themes from Vojvodina were rounded up by the report of transport engineer Vladimir Crevar on the "Potentials for developing nautical tourism in the region of the river Tisa". After visiting some of the cultural-historical monuments of Belgrade, during the afternoon session Dejan Veselinov, from the Tourist Organisation of Belgrade presented possibilities and projects in the Belgrade area. The session in Belgrade also gave opportunity for presenting the largest project so far of Dragoljub Zamurović, one of the most important artists in contemporary Serbian art photography, under the title "Danubian odyssey", which would have a ship housing an art photography exhibition of photos taken in Serbia navigating on the Danube from its source to the delta. The ship will stop in every settlement and the people will be invited to visit the exhibition. At the same time, Dragoljub Zamurović will make air photographing of the entire flow of Danube from a balloon. According to the plan, around half a million air photos will be made. At the end, a large Danube photo-monograph will be made.

Also on the Belgrade session, the new book of the successful writer duo, Antonije Škokljev - Dončo and Slava Nikolovski - Katin, was presented: "From Pannonia to the Aegean" (Makodonska Iskra, Skoplje 2006), in accordance to the goals of the Conference to draw attention to the historical and cultural heritage in the Danube region and neighbouring regions - as basis for new touristic offers. At the same time, the promotion of this book was an introduction to the presentation of the project idea of mythological tourism.

The work of the Conference was continued on the following days with project presentations and visits to the localities most important from the viewpoint of the Conference: Vinča, Smederevo fortress, Viminacium, Lepenski Vir and the Djerdap National park. This final document was accepted in Golubac, after visiting the Golubac fortress and presentation of tourist projects in the Golubac municipality PDF(3pp 187kb, in Serbian).

During these sessions the following projects were presented:

  1. Project ideas of Ranko Milovanović – Adžić, Agricultural Engineer and Tourism Manager about the sustainable use of the resurces in Belgrade for the tourism development, as the Building of Federation and other business bulidings remaining from the former state organization, the Kalemgdan fortress, etc; (Atraktivne mogućnosti turističkog razvoja BeogradaPDF(4pp 62kb))
  2. Project of professors Antonije and Ivan Škokljev concerning mythological tourismPDF(11pp 186kb), under the following points:
    • Book (in Serbian) "A Mythological Guide to the Danube trough Serbia";
    • The same book in English;
    • Atlas: a collection of maps showing the locations of ancient myths in the region;
    • Multimedia CD.
  3. The research project "Comparative sociological analysis of attitudes and values of the populations of relocated villages in the Djerdap gorge" of Carmen Bulzan, PhD, professor of sociology at the Faculty for ecology of the University of Bucharest (Romania) and Jovanka Božić, MA professor of sociology at the Secondary School in Valjevo (Serbia). The data collection in the villages on the Serbian and the Romanian bank of Danube was completed in two phases during 2005 and 2006. According to the presented research methodology, the completing of material is planned for 2007, followed by its analysis and interpretation. After that it will be published.
  4. Structuring the locality of the Rajko’s cave, an area of less than 1 km2, that has a unique speleological, geomorphologic and forest value and diversity. This was the reason for the experts of the Office for Nature Protection of Serbia to elaborate the protection of the entire area around the cave. Although the Rajkos' cave was in this manner protected as a First class natural monument, of pan-Balkan importance, the further regulation of the area and its definition as a sustainable tourism product is still ahead.
  5. The implementation of the project "On the routes of the old Saxon miners" proposed by architect Božidar Obradović would be important for the municipality of Majdanpek, as well as for the entire district. The project includes a round table conference on the several century long histories of Saxon miners on the Balkans, especially in Serbia, which territory was always rich with gold, silver, lead and copper ore. Substantial mining production of fine metals began in the 13th century (during the reign of the Nemanjić dynasty) with the arrival of the Saxon miners. Based on the results of the round-table conference, a project summary of the tourist product would be made, based on historical material, with visits to old mines and other locations important to this topic. (Vorschlag eines Projekts ländlichen Forschungstourismus „Auf den Spuren sächsischer Bergarbeiter“ in Ostserbien und Rumänien auf der Basis von natürlichen und geologischen UmweltmerkmalenPDF(4pp 177kb))
  6. The officials of Golubac municipality presented to the Conference the potentials for tourism development on the territory of the municipality. Among the project proposals presented the most urgent one is the construction of a vertical pier that would allow for a larger number of passenger ships with tourists to accost.

All the projects and project proposals presented on the Seventeenth Conference received support from the participants of the Conference, among others the representatives of Hungary’s most prestigious agency for tourist utilization of water areas, the "Aqua Profit".

Conclusions:

  1. The Seventeenth Conference once again affirmed the dedication of the International Scientific Forum "Danube - River of Cooperation&qout; to its mission of connecting, initiating and developing cooperation between all project and program proponents in Serbia as well as internationally, as the only way to mobilise all sources for insuring sustainable development.
  2. The Seventeenth Conference fulfilled the task of the International Scientific Forum "Danube - River of Cooperation&qout; from the Final Document of the previous conference, namely that it will continue its practice of wide openness toward all ideas and projects from the field of tourism. The development of tourism, with sustainable use of resources, stimulates not only the development of many other branches of economy, but also that of non-economic activities. On this conference the emphasis was on cultural-historical heritage as resource for tourism development.
  3. The Seventeenth Conference of the International Scientific Forum "Danube - River of Cooperation"successfully accomplished the meeting of information about the tourism development strategy of the Republic of Serbia (lecture of Minister Bojan Dimitrijević on the Strategy of Tourism Development of Serbia until the year 2015) with information on problems, possibilities and plans of local municipal governments and organisations for the protection of cultural-historical heritage and natural resources (Municipalities of Golubac, Majdanpek; Djerdap National park; localities Vinča, Viminacium, Lepenski Vir).
  4. The Seventeenth Conference achieved the intention from the Final document of the previous Conference "Danube - River of Cooperation" that the Forum should even more than before initiate cooperation on all levels, at the republican, provincial and local governance bodies. Significant progress has been made in this case, as the attention given by the Ministry of trade, tourism and services of the Republic of Serbia, the Secretariat of economy of the Executive Council of Vojvodina and of the local municipal authorities of Golubac, and indirectly of Donji Milanovac, Majdanpek, Kostolac, as well as that of others who expressed their wish to cooperate with ISF "DRC" in the future.
  5. International Scientific Forum "Danube - River of Cooperation" takes the responsibility to cultivate further the partnership of the governmental and the non-governmental sector with the aim to more effectively find solutions for problems of sustainable use of natural and cultural-historical resources, as well as to continue cooperation with neighbouring regions in this field, and try to establish such cooperation with municipalities where cooperation was not established this year (City of Belgrade, Municipal Council of Smederevo).
  6. The Seventeenth Conference gave support in principle to all projects and project proposals presented at the Conference, namely (in order of presentation at the Conference):
    • Initiative for forming the Euro region Upper Danube
    • "Study of the marina network in Vojvodina"
    • "Potentials for developing nautical tourism in the region of river Tisa"
    • "Danubian odyssey" photo-monograph
    • Project ideas about the sustainable use of the resurces in Belgrade for the tourism development
    • Project of mythological tourism
    • Research "Comparative sociological analysis of attitudes and values of the populations of relocated villages in the Djerdap gorge"
    • "Rajko's cave" as a sustainable tourist product
    • Project proposal "On the routes of the Old Saxon miners"
    • Development strategy for tourism on the territory of Golubac municipality, with the most important project proposals in this field, and as the most urgent one, the construction of a vertical pier, that would allow for a larger number of passenger ships with tourists to accost.
  7. This document is presented to the wider public by publishing on the website of the International Scientific Forum "Danube - River of Cooperation": www.danube-cooperation.com, in the Forums' journal "Danubius", on CD and in the conference proceedings, as well as trough other media and by sending the document, and latter the CD and the proceedings to governmental bodies, public state enterprises, for-profit organisations competent in the matters discussed at this Conference.

The Seventeenth International Scientific Conference "Danube - River of Cooperation" was supported by:

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia
Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Services of the Republic of Serbia
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water-management – Directorate for Water of the Republic of Serbia
Executive Council of Autonomous Province of Vojvodina – Secretariat for Economy
Municipal Council of Golubac
Publ.State Enterpr. "Djerdap" for Production of Hydroelectric Energy, Kladovo
Public Enterprise "National Park Djerdap", Donji Milanovac
Institute of International Politics and Economics, Belgrade
Public Enterprise "Srbija Vode", Belgrade
Public Enterprise "Vode Vojvodine", Novi Sad
Institute for the Development of Water Resource "Jaroslav černi", Belgrade
Water-management Company "Galovica", Zemun
Water-management Company "Tamiš Dunav", Pančevo
Water-management Company "Ušće", Bela Crkva
Community Water-management Enterprise "Smederevo", Smederevo
Community Enterprise "Geosonda-projekt", Belgrade
Community Enterprise "Vodoprivreda", Požarevac
Inland Waterway Maintenance and Development Agency "Plovput", Belgrade
Community Enterprise "Beograd Vode", Belgrade
Water-management Company "Sibnica", Belgrade
NIK "Beograd", Belgrade
Water-management Company "Srednji Banat", Zrenjanin
Water-management Company "Šajkaška", Novi Sad
Water-management Company "Podunavlje", Kovin
"Hidrogradnja i Erozija", Požarevac
Tourist organisation Belgrade
Tourist organisation Golubac