In the framework of the EUSDR, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary helped to develop the flood protection capacity of Bosnia and Herzegovina through a training project organized by the Hungarian co-coordination of Priority Area 5 – “Managing Environmental Risks”.
Almost 60 participants attended the successful 4-days educational training program that was organized for flood protection professionals and municipality experts of Bosnia and Herzegovina between the 9th and 12th of June 2015, near Sarajevo, with the involvement of Hungarian water management experts.
In the opening speech of the event, István Joó, Ministerial Commissioner for the Implementation of the Danube Region Strategy in Hungary remarked: “Solidarity and helping each other in trouble and solving immediately the challenges are essential, but we also need to take steps to improve our long-term flood management capacity in order to prevent disasters and floods.”
The project is a good practice of the EUSDR, in which Hungary also supports the integrative efforts and cooperation between non-EU member and EU member countries of the Strategy.
From the Bosnian Herzegovinian side, Bosko Kenjic, Head of Water Resources Department at the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations (MOFTER) expressed his acknowledgement for the initiative to enhance knowledge of municipality experts who have essential role to direct the protection in the event of floods.
The thematic program was compiled after severe floods hit Bosnia and Herzegovina’s territory in May 2014 causing serious damages and losses to the country. Beside the Hungarian water management experts and the chairman of the ICPDR (International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River), several international and local representatives of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the World Bank were also among the lecturers and presenters of the program.
The training project – which was financed by the Hungarian International Development Cooperation Program and the Danube Region Strategy – is part of the Danube Region Operative Flood Management and Cooperation Programme’s implementation, which has been developed by Priority Area 5 of the Strategy after the extreme floods on the Danube and in the Western Balkans in 2013 and 2014.
For more information please contact the Priority Area Coordinator of the EUSDR PA5, Mr László Dobi at .
