International railway legislation, cross border rail traffic, railway safety and further cooperation were the main topics of a two-day-high-level meeting, that took place on 6 and 7 February, in Belgrade, Serbia in the framework of the EuroMed Transport Rail Project (EUMedRail). The EUMedRail project, funded by the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement (DG NEAR) of the European Commission, has a budget of 2 million euros for the period between 2017-2020, to carry over technical assistance in neighbour countries: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia.
The Belgrade event, organised by the European Union Agency for Railways in cooperation with the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail (OTIF), was hosted by the Serbian National Safety Authorities. The meeting gathered experts from the European Commission and OTIF, participants from the IPA project and representatives from the EUMedRail project, including Algeria, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Tunisia, and the EU Delegation in the Serbian Parliament in Belgrade.
The deputy Prime Minister and Serbian Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Ms Zorana Mihajlović, delivered an opening speech on the cooperation between the EU and Serbia, including the IPA project with the EU Agency for Railways, which tackles the convergence and harmonisation of the accession states legislation with the EU.
The delegations took part in a debate on the development of OTIF specifications for infrastructure and contributed to identify EUMedRail countries specific needs. The meeting was closed by an overview of the EU state of play on OTIF Dangerous goods regulations implementation and a discussion with the Serbian National Safety Authority.
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