In 1992 the Italian Government established the Central European Initiative (CEI) Fund at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), acknowledging the great opportunity the newly created multilateral development bank presented for the objectives of the CEI. The Fund was created “to assist the Bank’s countries of operation in central and eastern Europe in their economic and social transformation process.” Since its inception, Italy has allocated 47.5 million EUR to the Fund.

Through its Technical Cooperation Programme the Fund offers grant-type assistance in support of specific components of investments and operations of the EBRD. Since its inception, the Fund has committed around 29 million EUR for 180 technical cooperation assignments. TC operations include support for feasibility and pre-feasibility studies, sector and environmental engineering, management training, capacity building, pre-loan audits.