Distinguished Guests, [604062]

Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a pleasure to be here today and than k you for the opportunity to take a snapshot of
where we are, what has been achieved, and discuss where we want to be. This day is special
because we are not just talking about plans for the future, now we have concrete results and
achievements . Together with our Serbian partners and frien ds from Žagubica we play a vital
role in our communities by prevent ing the loss of life from fires and also by avoid ing ecological
damage s, expenses of putting out the fires , rehabilitation of destroyed forest area s.
In my opinion , considering the variety in approa ch and procedures, legal traditions and
the different level of economic and institutional development , the achievements of international
cooperation between Romania and Serbia are remarkable . Together we managed to overcome
the difficulties imposed by state boundaries , language and bureaucracy .
Today , we are talking about two modern fire department s and abo ut high-tech
equipment and tools needed to fight against natural disasters , environment al problem s and
climate change .
When we started thi s project, we were aware of the pessimistic and skeptical trend
regarding the results , but somehow, we m anaged to overcome the negative opinions and equip
Recaș and Žagubica fire departments with new fire trucks , off-road vehicle s, equipment for the
volunteer firefighters and much more.
Now, we are glad to say that, during the project , the trend has changed and people are
becoming more and more optimistic and are interested in financing opportunities provided by
Local Action Gro ups, operational programmes and regional program mes.
If we take a look a t the project, we can see clearly that , again, the Europe an Union
played the main role by supporting a significant percentage of expenditures . Reca ș
Municipality purchase d two ultramodern fire trucks, one multifunctional snow -plowing
machine , high-pressure water tank , one plant -mounted chopper, power generator and other
tools necessary for firefighte rs. Also, Žagubica equipped their fire department with a high –
capacity fire extinguisher , a small capacity off -road vehicle . a ground -reconnaissance vehicle
and protecti ve equipment for the volunteer firefighters .
Firefighters from Recaș and Žagubica attended joint courses to be prepared in case of
emergency and common intervention methods were set specific for Recaș and Žagubica .
That brings me to the final point : climate change is real and is happening in f ront of us.
The rise in global and local temperature is accelerating . If we act now, we can tackle this

problem . We need to start locally, a nd so we did. In Recaș, 7 locations are monitored using
weather monitoring devices . Mainly , weather station s are continuously monitoring a wide
range of weather parameters, including: wind speed and direction , air temperature , relative
humidity and barometric pressure . By analyzing measured values, we can generate clear
graph ics, viewed not just on a PC or laptop, but also smartphones, tablets or any other device
that has access to the Internet. Using all this data, we can forecast the weather , take fast
measures and warn the popu lation in case of emergencies . Over nex t years, we are appl ying
for innovative project s regar ding climate change and cu rrently, we are implementing an
ecological high-tech lighting system .
Finally , I would like to just to say few words. Together , we can develop our community
by commit ting each one of us to this effort . I trust the contacts and exchanges supported by us
and our Serbian partners will drive us all forward and hope for a brighter future .