On the occasion of the opening of the new offices of the Pact's Regional Envoy, Romanian diplomat Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu, the Special Co-ordinator gave the following statement: — He welcomed the decision of the Bucharest Summit on Environment for the Carpathian and Danube region to mandate the Stability Pact with organising a comprehensive Danube Conference, where, apart from the environment, topics such as navigation, transport, economy and trade for the Danube Basin would be discussed. Such a conference would best be held as soon as navigation on the Danube River is re-established. — The projects of the Stability Pact in Romania in the framework of the Quick Start Package are all successfully underway (with only minor delays for some infrastructure projects). The financial volume for Romania is approx. 390 Mio Euro. — The Quick Start Package as a whole after its first year shows very good progress. In Working Table I (Democracy & Human Rights) of 140 projects 113 are fully working and 11 are about to start, the financial volume of 372 Mio Euro being fully committed. In Working Table II (Economic Reconstruction) projects representing 75% of the commitments for infrastructure have started. Of Working Table II's 1.9 bio Euro, which are fully committed, 49% have already been disbursed. On Working Table III (Security) of 37 projects 32 have started and 95 % of the financial commitments of a total of 75 Mio Euro have been disbursed. — On financing, Mr. Hombach stressed that preparations for the next Regional Conference on Assistance and Reforms are well underway and that he intends to associate private investors closely. As private investment is what the region most needs. Governmental money can only be a catalyser, Hombach underlined. He hoped that this conference could be held in Bucharest. — Hombach, referring to his recent visit to the USA said, that the US-EU summit in Gothenburg (Sweden) of early June is expected to give the activities of the Pact a new impetus and it will mark the beginning of the next phase of co-operation with South-eastern Europe based on strong US and European participation. — In his meetings with the Romanian and Moldavian Heads of States and Government Hombach emphasised his strong commitment to help bring Romania closer to a visa-free status with the Schengen states. It was agreed that, therefore, it was essential that the entire Moldavian population receive passports soon. The Romanian Prime Minister and the Special Co-ordinator have agreed that the cost of this operation estimated at 2.5 Mio US$ will be shared between them. Hombach commended the Government of Romania for hosting the Danube Environment summit and thanked for the important contribution of providing the Regional Envoy and his Offices to the Pact.