Visegrad Group (V4) inland navigation conference in Poland

The Visegrad Group (V4) ministers responsible for water transport met in Warsaw, on the 31st January 2017, during the high-level conference on the perspectives of inland navigation development in V4 countries, organised within the Polish Visegrad Group Presidency framework.

The full-day event was organised by the Ministry of Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation. It brought together the V4 ministers, experts and European Commission representatives - giving them opportunity to discuss the significance of the inland navigation for the international transport and economy, share experiences and future plans.

The inland navigation sector is an important part of both national and local economy, boosting the expansion of infrastructure, trade, transport and tourism. The inland navigation development reaches far outside the river transport itself, connecting the key sea ports and allowing the implementation of the effective multimodal transport in the international trade. It is worth to note that by the year 2030, as much as 30% of the European Union road transport should be diversified to the other means of transportation, including inland waterways. In this context, the development of inland navigation demands close cooperation between the countries that share the international waterways. The Visegrad Group and events like this, can and shall be used as a forum of cooperation and promotion of inland navigation.

The Polish, Czech and Slovak ministers took this opportunity to sign the Memorandum of Understanding related to the cooperation on developing inland navigation, including Danube - Oder – Elbe waterway project.

Source: The Ministry of Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation of Poland