Invited by the Director-General of UIC, Serbian Railways and Director of the Institute of Traffic and Transport Ljubljana of the Slovenian Railways, the official kick-off meeting of the groundbreaking SEESARI project will take place in Belgrade in the main Conference Hall located at Nemanjina 6, in Belgrade, Serbia on 27 January 2016.
SEESARI is the initiative to support the development of the transport system in South East Europe – ranging from Austria to Turkey – with a focus on railway research, development and innovation, (re)-establishing cross-border connections and linking the area to rail corridors, harbours and airports and to the TEN-T network.
The idea about the South East Europe Alliance was first presented at the South East Europe Rail Conference in October 2014 in Belgrade and there was a very positive response to the initiative. In the year 2015 there were preparatory meetings in Ljubljana and Belgrade with full support of the International Union of Railways.
The main goal of the initiative is the clustering of the main stakeholders such as the railway operators and infrastructure managers, railway and transport associations, universities, transport research institutes, financial institutions, investors as well as other interested organisations and working towards a public private partnership.
On the basis of a Strategic Innovation Plan an action plan will be developed in order to identify the needs and priorities and launch the innovative solutions and projects that would support the development of railways in South East Europe and its contribution to the wider European railway system. A first draft for such a Strategy and Action Plan will be presented and discussed during this kick-off meeting.
The SEESARI work programme will be inspired by a number of European Union sources including the topics in the 2011 Transport White Paper, Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, Shift2Rail, CEF and also the rail sector’s long term vision as set out in the Challenge 2050 document and in the UIC’s Rail Technical Strategy Europe (RTSE).
During the meeting the SEESARI Memorandum of establishment will be presented, discussed and signed by representatives of the participating stakeholders.
Welcome speeches will be delivered by Mr Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Director-General of UIC, Mr Miroslav Stojčić, Director-General of Železnice Srbije/Serbian Railways and Dr Peter Verlič, Chairman of the SEESARI Task force at UIC and Director of the Institute of Traffic and Transport Ljubljana/Slovenian Railways.
If you are interested in playing a role in the development of the rail transport system in SEE or would just like to attend this kick-off meeting and receive more information, please register your participation before 18 January 2016 using this online registration form.
We look forward to meeting you in Belgrade!
