State Secretary for tourism at the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Lukrecija Đeri opened a workshop on the drafting and implementation of the Strategy for Sustainable Development of the Carpathian region. The Carpathian Mountains are an important ecological, economic, cultural, and recreational environment in the heart of Europe, said Đeri, adding that the Carpathian countries, inspired by the model of the Alpine Convention, have teamed up to create an international legal framework, whose implementation and further development constitute the most important instrument for the protection of the natural resources of the region.

The representative of the European Ecotourism Office Ms. Martina Voskarova presented a draft Strategy for Sustainable Tourism Development of the Carpathian region and explained in detail the objectives and activities of the Action Plan.

State Secretary Đeri added that it is expected that activities related to the implementation of the Carpathian Convention will allow certain subregional contribution to the current global and regional agreements and the signing of the Strategy for Sustainable Tourism Development in the Carpathian region scheduled for September 23 and 24, 2014.