First International Desk held in Gorizia: Scenarios of Development in the Adriatic – Balkan Area
Transport Workshop "Port and retro-port network in
Adriatic-Balkan area"
On March 8th and 9th, 2010 in Gorizia (Italy) the First
International Desk under the title "Scenarios of Development in
the Adriatic-Balkan Area" was held. The Forum was organised
by Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG) Region in cooperation with the
Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the hosting Municipality of
Gorizia and the Banca Popolare FriulAdria/Crédit Agricole. This
meeting is the fruit of the former International Desk for South
East Europe promoted by the regional administration to encourage
the discussion among Italian and SEE political actors and experts
on strategic, social and economic development in South East
Europe.
The aim of the International Desk is to overcome the
conventional bilateral approach and transform it into partnership
relations by identifying a single area as a unique free exchange
zone favoring a balanced development of local economies. This
approach will enhance the cooperation among the
Adriatic-Balkan countries, targeting strategic sectors for the
definition of a macro-regional strategy in the Baltic Sea and
Danubian areas as strongly requested by the EC.
According to the regional administration and the Italian
government the International desk should become an annual
appointment, where relevant actors can meet to measure the progress
deriving from the cooperation in the Adriatic Balkan macro-region
to be shaped according to the EU strategy.
The case of the future Danubian macro-region was presented as a
model to pursue, because of its focus on transport, environment and
economic regional development. Whereas, the specific aspect the
Adriatic-Balkan region concerns the involvement of non-EU
member countries.
A relevant role was played by a thematic workshop on transport,
while other roundtables focused on energy and finance. The topic of
the meeting was "Port and retro-port network in Adriatic-Balkan
area", with the main discussion on the Motorways of the Sea EU
policy.
A brief introduction recalled present goals of the EU transport
policy put in place to mitigate the most impacting factors (as is
the case of the predomination of road on rail) and the necessity to
achieve a more sustainable modal balance, together with the
requirement for an implementation of transport networks. Relevance
was given also to the crucial aspect of the CO2 reduction of
the transport system.
The discussion highlighted the two-fold level of approach in
maritime transports in Europe. From one side, the aim of freight
traffics reorientation along the Motorways of the Sea routes is a
challenging but compulsory commitment to alleviate land traffic,
with the assumption of extending it also to non-EU (Balkan) members
countries. Nevertheless, on the other side, the development of
major extra-continental traffic flows decisive for the European
trade exchanges, mainly as container traffics are not to be
neglected., As a matter of fact, they represent an annual volume of
over 40 million TEUs crossing the Mediterranean Sea of which over
two thirds are directed to Northern ports
The competition is severe, and the principal competitors are now
also French, Spanish and African ports that hugely invested in
infrastructures in the recent years. In the Balkan region, a major
capacity to adapt to these changes was shown by the Romanian port
of Constanţa. The issue is particularly sensitive at the moment,
with the ongoing recovery of container flows from China and the Far
East after the 2009 global economic crisis.
A particular attention of the reporters was given to the
backbone of international corridors on which the traffic
development in the Western Balkans is mainly based and along which
the physical integration of the SEE should be realized, bearing in
mind the potential role of existing terminals in the Adriatic Sea.
Besides the existing Corridors 5, 7, 8 and 10, it was suggested to
recognize the relevance of the rail/road route Bar/Belgrade
(indicated as a sort of incoming "Corridor 11") for the
benefit of trade penetration of entire Balkans and further to
Hungarian and Ukrainian markets. Specifically, Albania announced
that a conference on Corridor 8 will be held in Tirana, in
April.
The relevance of transnational corridors was questioned by their
capacity to satisfy the still growing flows of passengers and
freight. This is especially true in the case of the rail/road
segments connecting the main port (corridor) terminals with the
hinterland. Significant interventions still have to be adopted to
improve the present situation up to a sufficient level required by
transportation flows and to ensure a satisfying level of regional
market penetration or, even, to complete still missing links. The
same is valid for the port infrastructures, considered strategic
domestic and regional gateways; some of them have already been
subjected to important implementation and development programmes,
benefitting from public or private/international investments and
credits. Anyhow, the need for modernization and extension remains
high in terms of infrastructure and storage capacities, as some
difficulties unfortunately persist in the regular commercial
activity due to burdening bureaucratic-administrative aspects.