Management team of port of Duisburg estimates that Apatin has exceptional geostrategic position on Pan-European Corridor VII

(delegation of Serbian entrepreneurs and representatives of the municipality of Apatin)

Serbian delegation of entrepreneurs and representatives of the municipality of Apatin visited "Duisport", the commercial and transportation center of the region of Rhine/Rur in Germany, on September 7th. The representatives of the municipality of Apatin in that delegation were Živorad Smiljanić, the Mayor, and Snežana Milešević, the coordinator for LER.

This working visit was organized after the last month's visit of the Executive Director of the largest European port and his associates to Apatin. On that occasion, they got familiar with the potentials and started projects of the future intermodal center for transportation logistics in Apatin, with the port and industrial park in projected free zone Apatin.

The estimate of the management team of Duisport was that Apatin had exceptional geostrategic position on Pan-European corridor VII because it was situated in the vicinity of railway and road corridors X, IV and Vc. The advantage of Apatin over other ports in Serbia lies in solid intention of the municipal authorities and the project for construction of the state-of-the-arts public port with international status on the Danube and the largest free zone in the region in Apatin in accordance with the latest Transportation Development Strategy of the Republic of Serbia.

(entrance to Duisport)

During the three-day visit, the delegation of Apatin had the tour of Duisport, which represents the largest industrial conurbation (an urban area comprising a number of mutually connected centers). There are 30m people living and working in the radius of 150 km from Duisburg, while over 300,000 companies are operating in the area, about 300 of which are specialized for transportation and logistics and offer their services within the port center. There are 6 intermodal terminals and 1.5m square meters of indoor storage space in Duisport. Navigable waterways, railway routes and highways are connecting Duisport with the major part of Central and East Europe, and it also represents a strategic background support for the harbors in the North Sea, including Rotterdam and Antwerpen.

The delegation of Serbian entrepreneurs and the representatives of Apatin, including Toplica Spasojević, the President of ITM Group and the Association of Corporate Directors, and Nenad Kostić from ITM Group - visited international logistic center Duisport, and then presented relevant events in the business ambient of Apatin. Recommendations of the Danubian Commission from Budapest and the support of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Ministry of Environment Protection and Spatial Planning of the Republic of Serbia were taken in concern, and local strategic plans and the level of planning documentation for forming regional logistic center were presented. The estimate of Duisport's Directorate is that Apatin deserves their professional attention and that they recognize many elements for future business cooperation. The two sides agreed that the started talks should be resumed soon, and that Duisport should provide technical assistance in making of management plans for development of logistic and commercial center in Apatin - the Danubian doors of Serbia.

Opština Apatin

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

ITM Group d.o.o. Beograd