27. Acknowledges the important role played by the Danube Strategy in promoting a green economy, green innovation and in a larger sense research and innovation aiming at the emergence of a new, competitive low-carbon economy and more environment-friendly approaches in the development of cross-border industrial cooperation projects; urges the riparian states to give top priority to the establishment of shared hydrological and water quality testing facilities, without which many business developments cannot succeed;

27. Acknowledges the important role played by the Danube Strategy in promoting a green economy, green innovation and in a larger sense research and innovation aiming at the emergence of a new, competitive low-carbon economy and more environment-friendly approaches in the development of cross-border industrial cooperation projects; urges the riparian states to give top priority to the establishment of shared hydrological and water quality testing facilities, without which many business developments cannot succeed;

3. Is the Commission aware that the monitoring group for the Danube upgrading works, which was appointed to provide advice and support in connection with the study, receives its information solely from specialists at RMD, the Waterways and Shipping Directorate South, the Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute, and the Federal Institute for Hydrology, which comes under the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs?

10. Calls on the Commission to encourage research in climate-sensitive sectors, in particular hydrology and agriculture, by introducing specific programmes.

In the context of COST decisions to authorize RD institutes in non-COST countries to participate in individual actions, the Committee approved the following participation: Romania: National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology of Bucharest Participation in Action 75: "Advanced weather radar systems" Russia: Moscow State Automobile Road Technical University participation in Action 319: "Estimation of pollutant emissions from transport" The Committee approved the extension of the following actions: C O S T 3 2 3 : Weighing in motion of road vehicles (for two and a half years) C O S T 3 2 5 : Road monitoring (for seven months) C O S T 5 1 ...[+++] 1 : Interaction of microbial systems with industrial materials: second round (for one year) C O S T 8 1 4 : Crop development for cool and wet regions of Europe: second round (for four years) The Committee approved the following new actions: COST 40: ESS (European Sea Level Observing System) COST E7: Multi-phase flows in paper-making COST 332: Transport and land-use policies Other new actions were approved in principle by the Committee, in some cases subject to finalization of their technical annexes: COST F2: (previously G3) Electrochemical sensors for flow measurements COST 828: Seed science in the field of genetically controlled stress physiology COST E8: Mechanical performance of wood and wood products COST G4: Multidisciplinary chestnut research The Committee's response to the requests by Romania and Malta to become members of COST was entirely positive.

Prior to 1997, Canada had a national hydrology research institute in Saskatoon and a national water research institute in Burlington.