Connectivity

SECNET project partners gathered on 8 January at the premises of the Port of Trieste - Lead Partner of the project - for their 4th Steering Committee meeting.

On 12-13 December, the HZ Putnicki Prijevoz (Croatian Railways - Passenger Transport) hosted in Zagreb the third steering committee meeting of the project INTER-CONNECT (Intermodality Promotion and Rail Renaissance in Adriatic – Ionian Region) financed under the Interreg ADRION Programme and supported by the ERDF and IPAII funds.

The Regional Conference on Fostering social inclusion and integration of asylum seekers and refugees in the Western Balkan region and other CEI countries was held on 5-7 December in Belgrade, Serbia.

The 4th Steering Committee Meeting of the CONNECT2CE project was held in Pilsen (Czech Republic) on 21-22 November, at the premises of the Regional Authority of the Pilsen Region (project partner).

On 12 November, the CEI Executive Secretariat hosted the first dissemination and presentation event, open to the public, regarding the Interreg ADRION project Inter-Connect, as well as the roundtable on strategies of cross-border and intermodal connectivity, a topic addressed by the Interreg Central Europe project CONNECT2CE.

Representatives of CSOs within the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) and the CEI Member States, met in Sofia on 15 – 16 October 2018 to take part in the debate of the 5th Danube Participation Day, on 17 October and the 7th Annual Forum of the Danube Strategy on 18-19 October under the Bulgarian Presidency.

From 24 to 26 October, the Stuttgart Region Economic Development Corporation (WRS) hosted the meeting of the Thinktank platform on urban logistics issues, combined with the 5th Consortium meeting of the SULPITER project.

The CEI Committee of National Coordinators has recently approved the financing of three technical cooperation projects by the CEI Fund at the EBRD entirely funded by the Italian Government.

The second capacity-building workshop of the WASTEOILFREE project (Integrated Waste-oils Management System. Transfer of Best Practices for Safe, Sustainable and Eco-friendly Transport in Serbia) was held in Belgrade on 19 October 2018 at the Serbian Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

The final conference of the capacity building project “Support for Strengthening Energy Regulatory Authorities in the Western Balkans” was held in Budva - Montenegro on 12 October gathering representatives from the beneficiary countries, Albania, Serbia and Montenegro, as well as from the European Commission, the Energy Community, and energy stakeholders.

The meeting of the General Committee on Economic Affairs of the CEI Parliamentary Dimension took place on 25 September gathering delegations from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine.

On 28 September and 3 October, three “Blue labs” were organised in Trieste and Monfalcone for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) which are active in traditional and emerging sectors of Blue Economy in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region.

On 26-27 September 2018, the Ministry of Construction and Physical Planning of Croatia organised the international expert conference “Energy Efficiency in buildings - for a better tomorrow” in Zagreb.

On 18 September, the North Adriatic Sea Port Authority (Venice) hosted the 3rd Steering Committee meeting of the project SECNET (Cross-border institutional cooperation for Port Security Enhancement) funded under the Interreg Cross-border Programme Italy-Slovenia.

The Straniak Academy for Democracy and Human Rights, established by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights, took place in Saranda, Albania from 2 -15 September 2018.

The fifth edition of the “Danube: Future Interdisciplinary School” took place at the University of Ruse, Bulgaria, between 9 and 16 September.

On 30 July 2018, the 1st local roundtable of the Inter-Connect project was organised by the Central European Initiative – Executive Secretariat (CEI-ES), at its premises in Trieste.

On 24 July, the CEI Executive Secretariat (CEI-ES) hosted the 2nd Steering Committee meeting of the NAMIRG project (North Adriatic Maritime Incident Response Group), financed by DG ECHO.