The TER Project Central Office moves to Bratislava
Geneva, 23 May 2007 -- After being based in Budapest for more
than 15 years, the Central Office of the Trans-European Railway (TER) Project
has moved to Bratislava (Slovakia).
The new TER Project Central Office was inaugurated on 15 May 2007 in
a special ceremony held at the Mirbach Palace in Bratislava in the presence
of the Minister of Transport, Posts and Telecommunications of the Slovak
Republic, Mr. L’ubomír Vázny, and the Executive Secretary
of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Mr. Marek
Belka.
“We are inaugurating this Office here today thanks to the strong
commitment of the Slovak Government to the TER Project and I would like
to express my deepest gratitude to Minister Vázny and to the Slovak
Government for its generous contribution”, said Mr. Belka, who
also expressed gratitude to the Government of Hungary for having hosted
the TER PCO until the end of 2006.
The inauguration of the new TER PCO, which will be located in the premises
of the Slovak Ministry of Transport in Bratislava, also counted with the
participation of Ambassadors, TER National Coordinators and other high
level Officials from the Ministries of Transport of the participating countries.
“I am confident that this new Office will encourage the TER participating
countries to cooperate more closely with a view to the coordinated development
of their rail and combined transport links and to the necessary integration
of those links into the pan-European transport system”, added Mr.
Belka.
The TER Project, which works under the auspices of the UNECE, brings
together 17 Central, Eastern and South-eastern European as well as
Caucasus countries, namely: Armenia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria,
Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland,
Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey. Other countries
in the region participate in the Project activities as observers.
The main objective of the TER Project is to promote cooperation among
the participating countries with a view to the coordinated development
of their railway and combined transport infrastructure and to the facilitation
of rail traffic in the region.
A TER Master Plan has recently been elaborated , which has identified
the priority rail links in 21 Central, Eastern and South Eastern European
countries – the TER Master Plan Backbone network - and has evaluated
and assigned priorities to 172 railway projects of an aggregate estimated
cost of EUR 52.5 billion, thus providing a r ealistic investment strategy
for the development of rail and combined transport infrastructure in the
participating countries.
The inauguration of the TER Office was further celebrated with a reception
in the Austrian Embassy in Bratislava on the invitation of the Austrian
Ambassador, H.E. Mr. Helmut Wessely. The Government of Austria
supports the TER Project and has made available the Project Manager for
the last six years as an in-kind contribution.
For additional information please contact:
Mr. José Capel Ferrer, Director, or
Mr. Michalis Adamantiadis, Chief, Transport and
Infrastructure Development Section
UNECE Transport Division
Palais des Nations
CH - 1211 Geneva 10
Phone: +41 (0) 22 917 24 00 / 917 11 28
Fax: +41 (0) 22 917 00 39
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://www.unece.org/trans/main/ter/ter.html
Ref: ECE/TRANS/07/N09