The kick-off meeting was organized to launch the project on hazard and crisis management in the Danube Delta (Danube Delta Project – DDP) for the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and with participation of Romania. The project aims at enhancing and where possible harmonizing the mechanisms and approaches for efficient and effective hazard and crisis management between the three project countries in the Danube Delta. It is funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and by the German Federal Environment Agency with means of the Advisory Assistance Programme for Environmental Protection in the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Additional support is provided by other donors.

The kick-off meeting, hosted by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine, brought together high-level representatives of the three project countries who agreed on the objectives, activities and the time plan for the DDP. They also formally approved the project implementation plan containing the before mentioned information.

The high-level representatives further concluded during the kick-off meeting that the involvement of the private sector would be a key factor to the success and the sustainability of the project. Therefore, close cooperation with operators of hazardous facilities in the project region was pursued and representatives from the ports of Giurgiulesti (Republic of Moldova), Galati (Romania) as well as Izmail and Reni (Ukraine) expressed their full support for the project.

In addition, it was agreed that the project would be further supported by other ongoing initiatives in the region in order to create synergies and to ensure the compatibility with other activities implemented along the Danube. Key partners in ensuring this accumulated value of the project are the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR), the Black Sea Commission (BSC) and the European Commission (EC).