Cooperation fund

Useful inputs for business starters and new insights on market trends were the key aspects of the Conference “SMEs – Business development and regional cooperation” held on in Belgrade on 3 March. Organised by the media production company Business Info Group (BIG), the event aimed at increasing  SME sector operations, cooperation between decision makers and SME representatives as well as at stimulating export growth. 

Representatives from state administrations and NGOs of 26 countries in North, Central and South Eastern Europe met in Stockholm on 8 – 9 December to share their experiences and knowledge on the reception of unaccompanied children and related necessary assistance. The event under the title “Promoting Good Practices in Protecting Unaccompanied Children and Finding Solutions for the Children, Families, Societies and States”, was organised and co-financed by the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) and the CEI Secretariat.

International experts and representatives met on 24 November, at a workshop on sanitary implications of the mass-movement of people. The event was held as a preliminary activity for the 10th Conference of the International Society for Health & Human Rights (ISHHR) under the title “Mental health, mass people displacement & ethnic minorities”, also taking place in Novi Sad next year.

Young scholars working on Central and South Eastern Europe in the fields of cultural studies, history, anthropology, media studies, political sciences, geography and sociology gathered from 17 different countries at the University for Applied Sciences in Vienna, on 1-2 December to attend the 5th Young Scholars Forum.
 

More than 300 participants - editors-in-chief, leading journalists, business professionals, civil society and academia as well as policy makers - attended this year’s South East Europe Media Forum (SEEMF) in Belgrade on 21-22 November.  
 

Representatives of OSCE participating States in Central and Eastern European countries (CEEs) as well as international organisations attended a three-day workshop on contemporary trends in labour migration and gender in CEEs, held in Chisinau on 23 November.
 

Leading energy specialists, professors and researchers as well as international bodies examined possible alternative energy visions and roadmaps within the workshop for alternative energy planners and modelling experts in Budapest on 3 November. The event aimed at supporting Central- and Eastern European countries (CEE) to develop sustainable energy systems and hence to initiate a research project about a common alternative energy scenario for the entire region of CEE and South Eastern Europe (SEE).

More than 4500 visitors and professionals participated in the events of the 20th edition of the Jihlava Documentary Film Festival on 24-29 October. This high number of participants was attracted by the distinguished programme of this major documentary film festival in Central and Eastern Europe, including 181 film screenings and more than 80 related events.

On 25-27 October, the 12th edition of the biannual International feed technology symposium in Novi Sad gathered researchers from main scientific institutions of Serbia and its neighboring countries, including nearly all CEI Member States, as well as from the United States of America. Besides providing a platform for scientific exchange between university and research institute members, the event also attracted many representatives from the industrial world, thus creating an important forum between and among the academia, producers as well as distributors.

The final activities of the project “Diversity is Super-City!” were held on 1 October in the form of a regional performance opening the final conference on “Different Cities-Happier Society”.

More than 60 participants from European cultural and public institutions exchanged views on human rights as well as on the inclusion and empowerment of minorities during the event held in Sremski Karlovci, Serbia. The speakers were representatives of the Regional Endeavour for Art, Culture and Health (REACH), the project organiser.

The European Movement in the Republic of Macedonia (EMRM), in cooperation with the Institute for Geostrategic Research and Foreign Policy – IGRFP of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, organised an international conference in Skopje, Macedonia on 20 September.
 

Altogether 29 students, including 27 participants from 8 CEI countries, benefitted from the interactive programme of lectures, round tables, seminars and workshops held by over 25 professors and guest lecturers during the 22nd CEI International Summer School on “Minorities, Kin-States and Territorial Cooperation”,  in Bertinoro, Italy on 12-16 September.

Leading experts and interested participants in the field of mosaic conservation gathered in Ohrid, Macedonia on 14-17 September on the occasion of the 3rd edition of the regional meeting SEE Mosaics “New perspectives and challenges in mosaic conservation”.
 

For the fourth time, the Straniak Academy for Democracy and Human Rights in Ulcinj, Montenegro has welcomed students from CEI Member States in the Western Balkan region and other countries.

This year’s event, held on 4-17 September, offered high-quality academic education as well as a platform for networking and interdisciplinary exchange on European values for international experts and students.

On 11-15 July, the MUN Slovenia Club (MUNSC), an NGO within the youth section of the United Nations Association of Slovenia, organised the MUNSC Salient 2016 edition at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Ljubljana under the honorable patronage of the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor.

For the third time the annual event Fest Anča welcomed video game creators from Central and South Eastern Europe as part of the Game Days programme in Žilina, Slovakia on 1 - 2 July. Besides bringing together creative minds, professional creators and  aspiring game developers, the Fest Anča Game Days introduced the thriving games industry to the public.

The Adult Education Institution - Dante organised the international conference within the project "Yes to Easier Education and Employment for Sensitive Groups (YEEES)", in Rijeka, Croatia on 30 June – 2 July. Under the title “Adult Education and the Labour Market”, the event aimed at meeting the growing need for countering unemployment especially with regard to youth and women over 40.

Around 50 participants from Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, the Macedonian Ministries of Local Self-Government and of Foreign Affairs and from the French Embassy took the floor at the two-day Seminar on 20-21 June 2016, organised by the ALDA Office in Skopje, the Association of Local Democracy  Agencies.
 

“In a context of deteriorating expectations of the EU candidate countries towards the enlargement process, the refugee crisis in the Balkans has contributed to broadening the communication channels, reconnecting the WB leaders with the EU institutions at large”, said CEI Secretary General, Giovanni Caracciolo di Vietri, during his opening address at the meeting on Friday 6 May in Trieste, where the implications of the Balkan Route on the EU enlargement process were discussed.
 

Approximately 80 participants from eight European countries, namely Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia, attended the seminar on energy efficiency held in Novi Sad on 22 April 2016. The topic on energy efficiency also attracted many key players in the region, mainly representing civil organisations, government bodies and universities.