14.04.2015 Content 1. Technical workshop Marine Directive 2. Central and Eastern European sector meeting 3. Second mirror platform meeting Bucharest 4. Knowledge exchange visit on EU Flood Risk Directive 5. Students and Case Sponsors needed for Wetskills Romania 2015 6. New Embassy app ( NL-RO Trade ) interesting for the water network 1. Technical workshop Marine Directive From the 25 th to the 28 th of Januari this year, the Netherlands Water Partnership Romania Platform and the Dutch Water Authorities received a delegation from Apele Romane - the Romanian National Waters Institute and a representative of the Dutch Embassy in Bucharest. The scope of the workshop was knowledge exchange on the EU Marine Directive. The technical workshop is the realization of one of the action points formulated during the last Bilateral Panel session between the Romanian and Dutch water sectors (July 2014). The panel is held every year and is a result of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Dutch Water Authorities and Apele Romane with support from RNWP and the Dutch Embassy. Rijkswaterstaat and Deltares contributed to the program of the visit with, among others, a field visit to an emergency response boat of the Rijkswaterstaat in the Scheveningse port. This was the first from a set of two technical workshops between the parties mentioned above. The second workshop took place in March on the subject of implementing the EU Flood Directive (information under heading 4). For more information please contact Johan Oost at j.oost@nwp.nl.
2. Central and Eastern European sector meeting The RNWP organizes at least once a year a platform meeting for its Dutch members to discuss new developments, share ideas and receive input from parties actively involved in the Romanian market. This year, the platform meeting was replaced by a greater event, under the title Central and Eastern European sector meeting. The event was organized by the Netherlands Water Partnership Romanian and Poland country platforms, in collaboration with RVO and hosted by Deltares. More than 40 organizations participated for a half day of creating new connections and exchanging experience on doing business and sharing knowledge in Central and Eastern Europe. The meeting opened with an introduction on the NWP country platform approach and the new framework under which Romania, Poland and other Central and Eastern European countries were put on the sector agenda. The knowledge sharing perspective and best practices from PIB (Partners for International Business) instruments was presented by Deltares with an insight on projects from three different countries: Poland, Romania and Slovenia. Nijhuis Water Technology gave an overview of do s and don ts based on commercial experience in Poland and Romania, with a spotlight on two recent industrial projects realized in collaboration with Dutch partners. In the second part of the meeting, participants were encouraged and invited directly by Economic Counselors from the Dutch Embassy in Slovenia, and the Romanian and Polish Embassies in the Netherlands to start activities on their respective markets, while offering network and local knowledge support. The Romanian Embassy in The Hague was present via the Economic Counselor, Mr Stefan Porojan, who openly expressed the support of the Embassy s commercial office for bilateral trade. Ongoing and planned activities were brought to attention by the coordinators and participants alike in the areas of Flood Risk and Water Management, Water Technology and Water&Food but also less circulated topics as Urban Flood Management. The event was followed up with a request for feedback and input from NWP to enable a better defined, strategic and applicable CEE market approach. For more information please contact Suzanne Tietema at s.tietema@nwp.nl.
3. Second mirror platform meeting Bucharest Similar to the platform meetings held in the Netherlands for the Dutch members, in the previous year the RNWP has started calling for similar gatherings in Romania. The scope of these mirror platform meetings is to create a stronger corresponding base network in Romania. Maintaining regular interaction between the two pillars is a sustainable way to transform ideas into projects, beginning from the needs of those participating in the networks. The results we aim for are greater cooperation in the water sector amongst the relevant Romanian and Dutch stakeholders, activating the network for partnerships and project initiation, and stimulating them to cluster and apply for various European and national calls for water projects. The sector meetings in Romania are organized by Business Development Group (BDG) for the Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP), with the support of the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Bucharest. On the 23d of March this year, the second mirror platform meeting was held and attended by 22 representatives covering various stakeholders of the Romanian water sector: central, regional and local public administration regional water operators private technology & engineering companies research & development NGOs Dutch water technology representatives in Romania Two of the participants (construction company Rotary SRL and Moldovan Water Agency) took the opportunity to present their organizations and projects while requesting assistance or asking for collaboration on specific topics. However, a good deal of the program revolved around interactive discussions between participants, who expressed their views, concerns and suggestions on topics ranging from training of water operators to including small consultancies with EU funding expertise in the project initiatives. The seminar was followed by a networking drink offered by the Royal Netherlands Embassy, which further facilitated bilateral interaction on projects ideas. Participants appreciated the dialogue facilitated by this event and confirmed their interest to further contribute to the RNWP initiatives in Romania. For more information on the programme and results please contact Ioana Dobrescu at i.dobrescu@nwp.nl. 4. Knowledge Exchange Visit on EU Flood Risk Directive From 25th to 27th March, the Dutch Water Authorities and the Netherlands Water Partnership received a delegation from Apele Romane - the Romanian National Waters Institute, the National Institute for Hydrology and Water Management and a representative of the Dutch Embassy in Bucharest. The main goal of the visit was knowledge exchange on the EU Flood Risk Directive.
The workshop consisted of a two day program with contributions from Rijkswaterstaat, water boards, knowledge institute Deltares and several engineering&consultancy companies. Attention was focused on going from flood hazard and risk maps to completing the risk management plans, which is the final step in the implementation of the Flood Directive. The programme ended with a field visit to the room for the River Waal project in Nijmegen. Here, the delegation was immersed in the details of the project from planning to implementation and given a tour of the construction site. Flood Proof Polder A spin-off of the Bilateral Panel is the interest from the Romanian side to build a Flood Proof Polder, similar to the one Valorisation Programme Delta Technology and Water (VPdelta) hosts in Holland. Flood Proof Holland is a testing facility for temporary embankments and dike sensors where entrepreneurs/smes can test and showcase their innovative flood risk management technologies. On the 25th of March the Romanian delegation met at Yes!Delft with VPdelta for a program revolving around the envisaged development of Flood Proof Polder Romania. Amongst others, the delegation witnessed pitches from five entrepreneurs, developers of innovative temporary embankments technologies. In turn, the Dutch Water Authorities, NWP and RVO each expressed their support for the initiative. The program ended with a field visit of the Flood Proof Holland testing site in Delft. The visit of the Romanian delegation took place in the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Dutch Water Authorities and Apele Romane and as a followup activity of the Bilateral Panel. The knowledge and best practices exchange was highly valued by both the Romanian and Dutch sides. The workshop will have immediate effects on the preparation and development of the Flood Risk Management Plans and hopefully lead to future joint knowledge exchange and business activities between the involved parties. For more information on the programme and results please contact Ioana Dobrescu at i.dobrescu@nwp.nl. 5. Students and Case Sponsors needed for Wetskills Romania 2015 For the second time, the Wetskills organization invites last year Bachelor-, Master-, PhD students and fresh graduates to apply for a next Wetskills event in Bucharest, Romania. Apply for this great opportunity to participate in Wetskills Water Challenge! The participants will work in mixed and multidisciplinary teams of four to develop innovative concepts to the case studies, provided by the water sector during an extensive two-week program in Bucharest, Romania (8-18 June).
The program will start with team building activities for 2-3 days, in order to meet each other. This includes field trips to water-related and cultural sites both in Bucharest and Constanta. An intensive period will follow, that will focus on working on the assigned case study. Dutch and Romanian supervisors will guide you during the weeks and facilitate your team to find your own innovative concept. Finally, the teams will present their case studies during a large presentation event during the ExpoApa, combined with the IWA water loss management conference (15-17 June), the winning team will be pronounced at this event as well. Who can apply? Any last year s Bachelor, Master-, PhD students and fresh graduates from Dutch and Romanian universities or organisations with passion for water and intercultural teamwork. A reserve list will be made with interested persons when necessary. Case sponsor Case sponsors can provide a water challenge for a study case for their own international team made of enthusiastic students and young professionals. The case can be a technological, strategic or any other relevant challenge the company or organization is facing on the Romanian market. Challenge the team to find a creative, applicable solution to your water worry and be ready to be surprised by young bright minds. Are you an innovative water company, organization or institute and do you have a challenging water case? Come on board and contact the Wetskills organization (Johan.oost@wetskills.com). For more information and application forms please visit: http://www.wetskills.com/ 6. New Embassy app ( NL-RO Trade ) interesting for the water network The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Romania has developed and launched an App (named NL-RO Trade ) that provides its economic network with targeted information on relevant developments and business opportunities in Romania (and Moldova). In various sectors, including the water sector. The App is aimed at facilitating an active dialogue and exchange between the users. The App offers news, tweets, information on events, business opportunities, information on Dutch companies in Romania and practical business tips. It is developed for Apple-IoS and Android operating systems and is free of charge. The bilateral water panel and organizations interested in Romania are welcome to contribute to this network of information sharing. If there are news items, (business) opportunities, calls for cooperation or events: they can be made public via this interactive platform. Feel free to download the App or contact the Economic section of the Embassy (Luiza.Chiva@minbuza.nl) to see how your organization can be part of this network.