Declaration of Intent of the Ministers of the Visegrad Group countries for cooperation to develop a high-speed railway network in Central Europe

RECOGNIZING the importance of improving the connectivity and accessibility of the major cities and regions of Central Europe in order to promote economic development,
territorial cohesion and sectoral cooperation in areas such as employment, culture
and tourism;

RECALLING that infrastructure development, including the North-South axis, plays a key role in increasing the cohesion and competitiveness of Central Europe, and contributes
to a fully functioning single European market;

SEEKING joint solutions to modernize the transport network of the V4 countries
with a particular focus on developing a high-speed and interoperable railway network that
will link the capital cities of the V4 countries while also connecting them to other major cities of the region;

PROMOTING environmentally-friendly modes of transport contributing to the achievement of ambitious emission reduction goals and supporting sustainable development;

SUPPORTING innovations as well as development and deployment of new technologies
in transport and transport-related areas;

AIMING to create a modern, fast and efficient railway network based on the guidelines
of the European Union on the development of the trans-European transport network.

WE, THE MINISTERS, HEREBY DECLARE OUR INTENTION TO:

Cooperate in identifying solutions and specific measures to minimize passenger train travel times between Warsaw, Prague, Bratislava and Budapest and assess the feasibility
of developing a high-speed railway network connecting these cities respecting current plans of high-speed network of the V4 member states;

Set up a working group with a regular quarterly session order, which is tasked, among others, with overseeing the preparation and assessing the assumptions of feasibility studies of the high-speed railway network project, and with coordinating the exchange
of information and the joint efforts of the V4 countries in relation to the national high-speed railway projects;

Harmonize strategies and plans relevant for the projects from technical, time-related
and geographical point of view. Jointly explore and identify the possible sources
of financing required for the preparation and implementation of each projects;

Encourage the neighboring countries to consider planning their railway developments
in cooperation with the V4 countries with the intention to develop a Central European
high-speed railway network.

In Štrbské Pleso, 1 ^st October 2018