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BUDAPEST, Oct 20 (AFP) - Central European Free Trade Agreement leaders called Wednesday for concerted action to clean up the Danube, a key trade route in the region, which has been blocked since the Kosovo crisis.
The seven-member trade bloc, launched in 1992, meanwhile raised the possibility of expanding further into the Balkans, to link with the post-Kosovo Stability Pact initiative in the region.
They also agreed they still have much work to do on breaking down agricultural trade barriers.
But priority must be given to unblocking the Danube, Europe's second longest river after the Volga, which has been unnavigable since NATO bombs pounded Yugoslav bridges into it during the Kosovo crisis in April and May.
"We agreed that to clean the Danube is now the most important task, even if it does not directly effect all CEFTA members," said Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban.
The leaders of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, were holding regular talks on progress on liberalizing trade in the region.
But the fallout from the Kosovo crisis overshadowed their discussions. The blockage of the Danube has stopped hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of trade in both directions.
Romania and Bulgaria, already the most impoverished nations in the CEFTA bloc, have notably suffered from an inability to transport goods to key markets in western Europe, although other countries in the region cannot send goods by river the other way.
The CEFTA leaders notably agreed to set up a special CEFTA commission to coordinate talks between the 11 states through which the Danube flows. Polish premier Jerzy Buzek said the discussions Wednesday had been "lively, strong, long-lasting and very useful debate."
The CEFTA leaders meanwhile discussed whether they should adopt new members to act as a regional economic organisation of the Balkans Stability Pact, Slovenian premier Janez Drnovsek said.
"We should examine the possibilities to expand. The European Commission wants to create a regional economic organisation in southeast Europe under the auspices of the Balkans Stability Pact.
"The question is if it is worth creating another, parallel organisation or it is preferrable to help some other states in the region to enter CEFTA" which could then act as the regional organisation proposed, said Drnovsek.
The central European premiers were to sign later Wednesday a joint declaration on CEFTA's goals including a passage on joint action over the Danube.
Their economy ministers signed a protocol on harmonising various trade regulations with those of the European Union. Four CEFTA members -- the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovenia and Hungary -- began EU membership talks last year.
Orban admitted meanwhile that CEFTA states continued to have problems in the agricultural sector, a highly competitive area.
"We had to see it is nearly impossible to create a common and free agricultural trade when we do not pursue a joint agricultural policy," said Orban.
"We still do not want to pursue a common CEFTA agricultural policy because sooner or later all CEFTA members would like to be inside the European Union, so all will want to share a common agricultural policy with the European Union.
CEFTA was agreed in 1992 in Krakow, Poland, by the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia to gradually dismantle trade duties by 2002. Slovenia joined in 1996, Romania in 1997 and Bulgaria on January 1 this year.