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On 15-16 May 2013 the CENTRAL EUROPE Annual Conference took place in Padua, Italy at a crucial moment for transnational cooperation, since the programming period 2007 – 2013 is about to end and the new period 2014-2020 is about to be defined.

The programme authorities took this opportunity to collect inputs from stakeholders and project partners under the motto “Cooperating across borders to make our cities and regions a better place to live and work”.

The CEI as lead partner of the ADRIA A project participated in the initiative “Train to Europe, organised together with the Municipality of Monfalcone in the framework of the cooperation with the SETA project (South East Europe Cooperation Programme).  

The EU-supported project  SEEMORE (Sustainable and Energy Efficient Mobility Options in tourist Regions in Europe)  aims at showing that regional actors in 8 European coastal tourist regions are able to change the travel behaviour of their visitors towards more sustainable transport modes. Since transport and tourism are strictly inter-related, if an increase in transport is not properly managed, it can reduce the attractiveness of a tourism destination.

Press freedom in a country does not only depend on the politics. Christian Spahr, head of the Media Program South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung underlines this on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day on 3rd May. “Especially in South East Europe it is visible that deficits of media freedom do not necessary result out of direct pressure from the politics.” All media players bear responsibility for media freedom, Spahr said. The region takes only average positions in global rankings.

On 23 April 2013, the Ukraine Dairy Market Forum took place in Kiev to launch a policy dialogue between the EBRD, FAO, the Ukrainian Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, key market regulators and players aiming at improving the climate for investments in the dairy sector and bringing cooperation between the private and public sectors to a new level. The Forum is one of the activities of a technical assistance project worth €60.000 supported by the CEI Fund at the EBRD contributed by Italy.

Lászlo Kövér, Speaker of the Hungarian National Assembly, opened the meeting of the CEI Parliamentary Dimension (PD), held in Budapest  on 24 April 2013. The meeting was chaired by Richárd Hörcsik, President of the CEI PD and head of the Hungarian Delegation to the CEI PD.

The 6th Conference on Creativity and Innovation took place in Pula (Croatia) on 19-20 April 2013, organised by the Croatian Network for Development and Creativity (MRAK), with the intention to assign the annual awards for creativity and innovation.

Ms. Selma Prodanovic, Short Term Expert within the EU-supported project “Improving Cooperation in South-East Europe by Actions for Strengthening the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) “, led by the CEI, participated in the panel dedicated to Creative Industry Potentials and Creative Industry Clusters.

Cooperation in areas such as minority rights and renewable energy was one of the topics on the agenda of the meeting between the CEI Secretary General and the OSCE Secretary General held on Friday 19 April at the CEI HQ. The OSCE SG Lamberto Zannier was received by CEI SG Giovanni Caracciolo di Vietri and the Alternate SG Margit Waestfelt.  
A CEI Ministerial Conference was held in Budapest on 15-16 April under the Hungarian Presidency to discuss on sustainable agriculture and its impacts in terms of rural development and environment protection.  
The CEI as lead partner of the EU-funded project “ADRIA A - Accessibility and Development for the Re-launch of the Inner Adriatic Area”, organised the presentation of the preliminary studies on the Italian railroad network, in cooperation with the project partner the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region.
The CEI held its annual Steering Committee meeting back to back with the CEI Committee of National Coordinators on 12 April 2013, at the Headquarters of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
The CNC, chaired by the Hungarian Presidency represented by Ambassador Edit Batorfi, dealt with an intense agenda:
 

The new CEI Secretary General Amb. Giovanni Caracciolo di Vietri met Hungarian Foreign Minister János Martonyi in Budapest on Tuesday, 9 April 2013.

The ACROSSEE project aims at establishing a large and coherent platform that will contribute to rationalising and optimising the existing transport network in South-East Europe (SEE). Financed under the South-East Europe Transnational Cooperation Programme, the project is promoted by the CEI as Lead Partner, in cooperation with 24 partner institutions, such as Ministries of Transport, Regional Administration, National Transport Operators and European Associations, Universities and Research Institutions in 13 countries in the region.  
In March 2013 a series of trainings held by Polish and Ukrainian experts were organised in the framework of the Know-how Exchange Programme Project “Performance Budgets in Cherkasy and Vinnitsa -Support for Good Governance and Financial Transparency of Local Governments in Ukraine” co-financed by Italy and Poland and supported by the European Commission.
 
On 2 April 2013 the opening ceremony of International Master’s in Public Procurement Management was held in Rome, Italy, at the University of Tor Vergata.

The CEI Deputy Secretary General Zoran Jovanovic attended a kick-off meeting of the Design Schools Network held on 26 March 2013 in Budapest. In his address speech Mr Jovanovic pointed out that by supporting the project of the Design Schools Network through the CEI Cooperation Fund, the CEI wanted to confirm the relevance and the potentials of regional cooperation in the field of secondary education systems. At present the Network is gathering 9 schools from 8 CEI Member States, but is open for membership to art and design schools of all CEI countries.

The Adriatic Sea Forum is taking place in Trieste on 21-22 March 2013. It is the first major international event dedicated to maritime tourism on the Adriatic, gathering representatives from 7 countries, 25 regions and more than 150 destinations involved in the tourism development and tourism industry. The CEI, as a supporting organisation of the Forum, has promoted the meeting with central and regional authorities, in particular in the Eastern Adriatic area.

Several high-level institutions in CEI countries, led by Professor Giuliano F. Panza - Professor of Seismology
at the Department of Mathematics and Geosciences (DMG) at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP/ESP section) - have developed over the last decade a comprehensive and unique study about macroseismic data of the Vrancea region in Romania. The strongest earthquakes occurring in the region since 1940 have been examined and mapped.  
The Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, together with the Central European Initiative (CEI) and the Synchrotron Elettra Laboratory, organised in Trieste (15 March 2013) a Workshop on Prospects for Cooperation in Scientific Research and Innovation in the Adriatic-Ionian Region. The event was inaugurated by Governor, Renzo Tondo, who hoped that the Macroregion could enhance wider cooperation among regions in Europe, also thanks to the convinced role in this direction of his own region.
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