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On 19 June 2026, Senator Maurizio Gasparri, President of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee of the Italian Senate, visited the CEI Headquartes where he met with Secretary General Franco Dal Mas and with the Staff members of the CEI - Executive Secretariat.

The event “Presentation of the CEI Fund at the EBRD: opportunities for Italian firms” took place  in Milan on 16 June 2026, jointly organised by the CEI- Executive Secretariat, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Italian Trade Agency, with the support of the Italian Office at the EBRD. Around 50 participants attended, including representatives of engineering, architecture and consulting firms, SMEs, business associations and institutional stakeholders.
Parliamentary delegations from CEI Member States gathered at the Silesian Museum in Katowice, Poland, on 16 June 2026 for a meeting of the General Committee on Cultural Affairs of the CEI Parliamentary Dimension (CEI PD). Discussions focused on the revitalisation of post-industrial areas in Central Europe, with particular attention to successful projects in the Silesian Voivodship.

“Enlargement is not merely an institutional process; it is the completion of the European project. The formal opening of accession negotiations with the European Union for Ukraine and Moldova, both member countries of the Central European Initiative (CEI), represents a significant step in this direction.

Thanks to the CEI’s observer status at the Council of Europe Youth Department, the CEI - Executive Secretariat represented by Deputy Secretary General Zsuzsanna Király was granted the opportunity to actively participate in the three-day workshop.

On 12 June 2026, the Falcone-Borsellino Programme for Central and South-Eastern Europe was officially launched at the CEI headquarters. Promoted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) within the framework of Italy’s legal diplomacy initiatives and developed in cooperation with the CEI Executive Secretariat, the Programme is designed to strengthen the capacities of justice and security institutions through the transfer of specialised expertise, the exchange of best practices, and enhanced operational cooperation in the fight against organised crime, corruption, and emerging security threats.

We are pleased to announce the launch of the Call for Proposals under the CEI Know‑how Exchange Programme (KEP).

The Programme supports capacity building, institutional strengthening and technical assistance initiatives, serving as a key instrument to promote regional cooperation and advance the EU integration process.

Deputy Secretary General, Ivana Pejović, participated in the 18th Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) Annual Meeting, co-chaired with the Bulgarian Chairmanship-in-Office of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) in Sofia on 9 June 2026.

Today Secretary General Franco Dal Mas, met in Brussels with senior officials of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enlargement and the Eastern Neighbourhood (DG ENEST), as well as with the Permanent Representatives of Italy, Ambassador Vincenzo Celeste, and Romania, Ambassador Iulia Matei, whose country c

Deputy Secretary General Yurii Mushka took part in the certificate awarding ceremony of the UA NEXT: Strengthening Dialogue and Local Engagement of Ukrainian Communities in CEI Countries project, held in Prague on 29 May 2026 at the Embassy of Ukraine, Czech Republic.

Today CEI Secretary General Franco Dal Mas welcomed David PiegazkiSecretary General of the WB6 Chamber Investment Forum (WB6 CIF) at the CEI Headquarters in Trieste.

On 28 May 2026, the Committee of National Coordinators (CNC) of the CEI Member States convened in Trieste at the headquarters of the CEI-Executive Secretariat for its second meeting under the Romanian CEI Presidency 2026.

The Parliamentary Committee of the CEI Parliamentary Dimension convened in Bucharest on 26-27 May 2026, at the Senate of Romania, bringing together representatives of CEI Member States’ parliaments to discuss infrastructure and digital connectivity as strategic drivers for economic cohesion and European integration.<

On 26 May 2026, the award ceremony of the  "Viva Marga – Margherita Hack e la Luna" school competition was held in the representative hall of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region in Trieste bringing together around 1,000 students and 70 teachers from 28 schools i

On 20 May 2026, Deputy Secretary General, Ivana Pejović, participated on behalf of the CEI-Executive Secretariat in the official ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the restoration of Montenegro’s independence, held in Podgorica upon invitation of the Prime Minister of Montenegro, Milojko Spajić.

From 4 to 8 May 2026, the BRIDGE project, Strengthening EU Integration Capacities in Brčko District through Italian Know-how and Regional Cooperation, carried out its study visit in the Puglia Region (Italy), bringing together representatives of the Government of Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Brčko District Development-Guarantee Fund, and the Italian firm Orange Public

We are glad to announce the opening of the Call for Participants to join the Advanced training course "Challenges and Perspectives of Science Diplomacy in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe", which will take place in Trieste and Gorizia (Italy) from 24 to 27 November 2026.

On 14 May 2026, partners of the ASAP project gathered in Kotor for the project's 3rd Steering Committee Meeting, hosted by project partner Our Action.

In an increasingly complex international landscape, marked by geopolitical instability, the rapid rise of disruptive technologies and growing transboundary societal challenges, science diplomacy is emerging as a powerful tool to foster multilateral responses grounded in effective science-policy cooperation.

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