Transport links in the Danube region to be improved

A further step towards improving the infrastructure in the Danube region will be the new airport in the Romanian Kronstadt / Brassov. The conference "Smart Regional Development - Airport City" took place on Thursday in Weidenbach/Ghimbav under the patronage of the Institute of European Regions and in partnership with the German-Romanian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (AHK). The main organizer of the event was Christian Macedonschi, a member of the Kronstadt City Council (Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania), who invited numerous experts from domestic and foreign airports, flight specialists and politicians to the conference. Partners of the event were besides AHK, Advantage Austria in Romania and the airport association of the country. Stephan Rauhut, member of the OWWF's Board of Directors, took part in the event on behalf of the OWWF, where his main focus is among other things Romania.

The Kronstadt region is one of Romania's economic growth regions. Numerous German and Austrian companies have also settled there. However, the traffic connection is currently problematic, which also has an inhibiting effect on tourism. Currently Kronstadt can only be reached by train or road with a journey time of more than two hours from Bucharest or Sibiu.

Siegfried Mureşan, Member of the European Parliament, stressed that the topic raised was of particular importance for the development of the metropolitan region. In addition to its importance for the economy, the fact that 1.3 million of the 12 million tourists who came to Romania came to Kronstadt and the area speaks for Kronstadt Airport. The airport thus offers not only economic and tourist development, but also new jobs. Christian Macedonschi welcomed the concept as a Smart City and emphasised that the airport must also have an exhibition centre and that the two projects must be implemented hand in hand. The two projects are to be based on Munich and Nuremberg experience and will be closely worked together.

The Danube Region covers 14 countries, including nine EU member states. It is home to more than 100 million people or one fifth of the EU population. Although the countries differ in their economic strength, the region is closely linked and offers potential for further integration and stronger growth. The strategic location of the Danube region opens the EU to its neighbours, the Black Sea region, the South Caucasus and Central Asia. It is crossed by the world's most international river, which is also an enormous transport axis, an important interconnected hydrological basin and a world-renowned ecological corridor. The development of the Danube basin is one of the OWWF's main themes. The OWWF supports both the upgrading of the Danube as a waterway in Bavaria and infrastructure projects in the further course of the Danube.