Bratislava, April 3, 2003
According to the Visegrad Statement on Railways and Combined Transport signed on 19th October 2001, in connection with international documents and resolutions of the UN European Economic Committee, CEMT and the EU, have agreed on co-operation between the countries in the field of combined transport and the performance of tasks that will benefit its further development, improvements in the environment and relief of the road network from road freight traffic.
For this purpose it is necessary:
- to pay particular attention to the development of combined transport in the basic north–south direction and thus to use modernised railway corridors;
- to create progressively such conditions for trains of combined transport, as to ensure finally that the length of stop at the border crossing points is performed in accordance with the AGTC agreement, which means to support:
- handing over of trains between the participating railways on technical trust,
- transferring customs, phyto-sanitary and veterinary clearance and controls to the departure and arrival terminals, where possible,
- introducing electronic transfer of data about wagons and consignment between the departure terminal and border stations;
- to support joint combined transport projects;
- to ask representatives of railway administrations, customs authorities and other relevant state administration authorities for support and organisational assistance with the implementation of points 2 and 3;
- to co-ordinate joint projects co-financing from European Union funds and programmes;
- to co-operate on the drafting of multilateral declarations concerning links between the Baltic and the Adriatic Sea and the Baltic and the Black Sea, to ensure development and support for combined transport in the countries of the Visegrád four and, where appropriate, in neighbouring countries;
- to form a working group of combined transport experts within two months of the signature of this Declaration to deal with the aforementioned tasks;
- to arrange meetings between the working group of experts and affected representatives of railway administrations, customs authorities and other relevant state administration authorities, at least once a year. The aim is to discuss jointly, deal with and check the performance of the various tasks, joint projects in particular, and inform the meetings of the transport ministers about the results.
Done at Bratislava, on April 3, 2003 in four originals in the English language.
Minister of Transport of the Czech Republic
Minister of Economy and Transport of the Republic of Hungary
Minister of Infrastructure of the Republic of Poland
Minister of Transport, Post and Telecommunications of the Slovak Republic
