(25-27 Apr) Rotary Danube Alliance Conference, Galati, Romania (+GAL)

Posted in News and Events. Written by Admin on April 30th, 2025

In the period 25-27.04.2025, an international conference of the Rotary Danube Alliance was held with more than 50 Rotarians from 6 countries – Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Serbia, USА, Netherlands. The event started with an official opening. The Bulgarian team was congratulated and thanked for the founding, active participation and organization of the Rotary Danube Alliance from the very beginning 3 years ago until now. The Bulgarian participants took an active part in the event’s program, with Violina Kostova, Past DG in District 2482 Bulgaria, participating in Plenary Session II and presenting the European Danube Strategy and program opportunities, Hristina Malchevska from Rotary Club Sofia International participated in Plenary Session I and presented the plan and organization of the Alliance from its establishment to the present, as well as future plans, together with Dori from Hungary, and presented the possibility of the Alliance’s participation in the Festival in Ulm, Germany, which takes place every 2 years and the next one will be in 2026. Veronika Botsova, Past President of Rotaract Europe, presented the June 1 project “Plastic for a Toy” and the idea for a Global Grant project to reduce pollution of the Danube River “Danube Paradise” in Plenary Session I. Nevena Ivanova, DISC co-chair and Rotaract DRR Elect, was the presenter and moderator of Plenary Session II on the topic of the Rotary Danube Hackathon for Rotaract and Interact, whose project idea was developed by Nevena and has a complete concept, plan, content, application process for participants, and a location for implementation is being sought. On the Bulgarian side, there was also an interesting presentation by Radost Ivanova from the Rotary Club Ruse, who presented the Danube Day project on June 29, 2025 – activities to clean up the Danube River – on the water and along the banks, the “No Cigarette Butts” initiative, a photo contest and other activities in partnership with the Ruse Municipality under the umbrella of the Alliance. On this day, other clubs along the Danube River will have initiatives – in Budapest, Romania, etc. inspired by Radost’s idea. There were also interesting presentations from: End Plastic Soup – Gert-Jan van Dommelen, RC Amsterdam – the harm of plastic to people, wildlife and the future of the planet; urgent measures and actions are needed to reduce it everywhere; Vice Rector of Galati Danubius University – participation in a plenary session for the Rotary Danube Hackathon – supported the idea and proposed exemplary projects from the young people; Roxana Ioan Vicleanu – Rotaract Galati + Dragos Buca – Interact Galati – active participation in the plenary session again for the Rotary Danube Hackathon; Vladimir Beljic from Serbia presented Danube Youth Council, an EU youth organization with which we want to partner for the Rotary Danube Hackathon; Cristian Niculae, RC Braila – presented an international and local kayaking initiative on the Danube River.

The event also included a project – planting flowers (roses) and trees in the Galati Botanical Garden with representatives from the USA of The Rotary Fellowship of the Trees – Corey and Brendon. They will also have a presentation at the Convention in Canada this year and also had a presentation at the event, presenting that their organization aims to plant 1 billion trees through Rotary by 2030. In the Galati Botanical Garden, each country planted its own tree, of course, Bulgaria too.