News
On 25 May 2010 in Brussels, a CEI delegation led by Amb. Gerhard Pfanzelter took part in a roundtable discussion organized and chaired by Mr. Thierry Bechet from the Directorate General for External Relations.
On 10 May, Prof. Maria Cristina Pedicchio, President of the Cluster in Biomedicine (CBM), met with Amb. Gerhard Pfanzelter in order to sign a Protocol for Cooperation covering a three year period (2010 - 2012).
On 14 May, the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Franco Frattini paid a visit to the CEI Headquarters in Trieste and met with CEI Secretary General, Ambassador Gerhard Pfanzelter.
Minister Frattini confirmed the support of Italy to the Central European Initiative and expressed appreciation for the work of the international group of experts on the strengthening of the CEI, chaired by Hon. Roberto Antonione.
The project ADRIA – A (Accessibility and Development for the Re-launch of the Internal Adriatic Area) has recently been approved by the Monitoring Committee of the Crossborder Cooperation Programme Italy – Slovenia.
CEI Secretary General, Amb. Gerhard Pfanzelter, attended the Adriatic and Ionian Council, held in Ancona on 5 May, marking the tenth anniversary of the Adriatic and Ionian Initiative.
On 27 and 28 April 2010, the 3rd Project Meeting of the South East European Transport Axis Cooperation (SEETAC) was held in Sofia, Bulgaria.
On 23 April Amb. Gerhard Pfanzelter, CEI Secretary General, met with the President of the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Renzo Tondo, in order to discuss ways of enhancing the cooperation between the CEI and the Region.
On 16 April, the CEI National Coordinators convened in Vienna for their second meeting under Montenegrin Presidency.
Chaired by Ambassador Nebojša Kaluđerović, newly appointed Political Director, the meeting was attended by Hon. Roberto Antonione, Chair of the International Group of Experts on the Strengthening of the CEI (IGE) , which held a meeting in Vienna on 15 April.
In order to contribute to the evolving EU Strategy for the Danube Region, the CEI participated in the Public Consultation on the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, launched by the European Commission from 2 February to 12 April 2010.
The know-how transfer between the Port of Venice (Italy) and the Port of Durres (Albania), within the PORTRAIN project was successfully concluded last month with a final conference in Tirana.
The project focused on establishing a training centre for safety regulations at work within the Port of Durres, on applying relevant procedures and regulations already in place in major European ports as well as on creating training courses for Port Authority staff.
On the occasion of the Regional Conference on “The Governance of Cross-border Territories: Models and Ideas for the Brenner Area” held in Trento (Italy) on 22 March, the CEI-ES was invited to exchange views on its experience on one of its priority areas of intervention, cross-border cooperation.
In his opening speech, Deputy Secretary General, Min. Mykola Melenevskyi highlighted the CEI interregional policy in approaching the new EU instrument - the European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation (EGTC).
CEI Secretary General, Amb. Gerhard Pfanzelter, addressed the conference on the Development Scenarios of the Adriatic-Balkan Region (Gorizia, 8 March 2010).
In outlining the CEI role in the Region, Amb. Pfanzelter emphasized the need to create a wide cooperation network between Adriatic and Balkan countries, in line with the EU policies.
On 8 March 2010, Trieste, the newly established International Group of Experts on the Strengthening of the CEI, formally approved at the Committee of National Coordinators meeting held in Kolašin (Montenegro) on 18 February, gathered for its first meeting.
The IGE is composed of the countries representing the CEI Troika, i.e. Romania, Montenegro and Serbia, including Italy. The CEI Secretary General also takes part in the Group.
Among the 30 proposals submitted within the CEI UniNet Call for Proposals launched in September 2009, 13 post-graduate level courses have been selected: 7 Summer Schools, 2 PhD courses, 2 Seminars, 1 Master’s course and 1 Workshop.
The winning Joint Programmes will be coordinated by universities in Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine.
The Montenegrin CEI Presidency, represented by Ambassador Milorad Šćepanović, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro and CEI National Coordinator of Montenegro, has recently paid a visit to the CEI Headquarters in Trieste. The main aim was to communicate the priorities and the calendar of events of this year’s Presidency.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro, Milan Rocen (see left) has recently received CEI Secretary General Ambassador Pfanzelter in Podgorica. The focus of the discussion between the distinguished interlocutors was the Montenegrin Presidency with the Initiative.
First Ministerial Conference on South East European Transport Axis Cooperation (SEETAC) in Bucharest
On 3-4 February, about 40 participants attended the First SEETAC Ministerial Conference in Bucharest (Ramada Parc Hotel).
CEI Secretary General Gerhard Pfanzelter has recently attended in Gorizia, together with the Mayor of Gorizia, Mr. Ettore Romoli and the Mayor of Nova Gorica, Mr. Mirko Brulc, the launch of the first Italian-Slovenian European Group for Territorial Cooperation (EGCT).
EGCT is a recent EU project aimed to improve territorial cooperation at European level.
On 1 - 2 February 2010 the first Conference on the EU Strategy for the Danube Region was held in Ulm, Germany. Following the European Council’s request for the elaboration of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, the European Commission intends to develop a framework for Danube cooperation and a common action plan, bearing in mind the three “NO’s”: no new budget, no new institutions and no new legislation.