The partners gathered as usual at the kick-off meeting, held on 11 October 2011 in Zagreb. It brought together the employers’ associations and branch associations/partners from the transport sectors of Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Bulgaria.
A brief introduction by the employers’ organisations from the partner countries of South Eastern Europe was followed by a presentation of the circumstances and specific characteristics of the transport sectors in the participating countries. The situation in Slovenia was presented by Igor Sep, representative of the Transport Association at the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS). The presentations revealed some major differences between the countries in terms of development, importance and use of various transport means (road, railway, shipping and air transport) and in terms of various difficulties faced by individual segments in these countries.
In the second part of the meeting the representative of the BDI – Federation of German Industries – with one of its liaison offices also in Brussels, introduced the White Paper on transport and the views of the German federation, having a big influence and an insight into the developments and the adoption of the acts in the European Union.
The Association of Employers of Slovenia (ZDS), as the lead partner, presented the activities planned under the project and highlighted the project administrative requirements. Furthermore, the project partners discussed the contents of a publication, envisaged in the framework of the project, to be made available in the national languages of the project partners.
The project activities will include the preparation of the publication and in particular, the organisation of workshops in different countries. The Croatian Employers Association organised its workshop or conference the day following the kick-off meeting in Ljubljana, which took place on 13 October 2011. A workshop is planned to be held in Bulgaria in November, in Montenegro in December, followed by the next joint meeting of all project partners in January after a workshop in Macedonia.
Project RITS is co-funded by the European Commission.