News

The 23rd Meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) was held on 26 November 2010 in Thessaloniki with the theme “Green Development and Entrepreneurship”.

On 16 of November, the Central European Initiative has successfully organised in Tirana the seminar on “Urban Freight Management: an Exchange of Good Practices in the European context and beyond” in the framework of the SUGAR Project (Sustainable Urban Goods logistics Achieved by Regional and local policies), co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and made possible by the INTERREG IVC programme.

The CEI Human Resources Development Forum, a long-standing CEI Feature Event,  took place in Prague on 18 – 19 November 2010.

The Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts, in cooperation with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and of Education and Sciences of Montenegro and in cooperation with the Central European Initiative, organised an International Scientific Conference on Research and Development as a Basis for Innovation in Creating the Competitive CEI Region”, in Podgorica (12-13 November 2010).

Promoted by the European Commission Directorate - General for Research and together with the EU Belgian Presidency and hosted by the Ministry of Education and Sciences of Montenegro, the meeting of the Steering Platform on Research for the Balkans was held in Budva on 11 November 2010.

Following the first Ministerial Conference held in Bucharest, Romania (3-4 February 2010), SEETAC’s (South East European Transport Axis Cooperation) Second Ministerial Conference took place in Tirana, on 16 November 2010.

On 8-9 November 2010, the International Centre for Theoretical Physics organised in Trieste a conference entitled “ICTP after 45; Science and Development for a Changing World”.

The implementation of the CEI Trust Fund supported Know-how Exchange project AER Peer Review on Energy in Vojvodina on “How to create sustainable energy communities within our regions?” has started at the beginning of this month.

The awarding ceremony took place in Trieste, on 23 October, on the occasion of the opening of the exhibition of the Ninth International Design Competition Trieste Contemporanea.

On 27 October, the Minister of Economy of Montenegro, Branko Vujovic, opened in Podgorica a regional conference on "Renewable Energy Sources and Their Applications", organized under the Montenegrin Presidency by the Montenegrin Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Ministry of Economy and the Office of Sustainable Development of Montenegro. 

"Today when the economies of our countries begin to recover after the global crisis, we are aware of the importance of investments for economic growth and for the entire  economy of each of our countries” said the Minister of Economy of Montenegro Branko Vujovic, in his opening speech at the CEI Meeting of Ministers of Economy on "Investment Promotion", organized under the Montenegro CEI Presidency of 2010 in Podgorica on 28 October 2010.

On 27 October 2010 the Minister of Tourism of Montenegro, Predrag Nenezic opened the meeting of CEI Ministers of Tourism on "Sustainable Tourism” in Budva.

The CEI and the Council of Europe have jointly promoted a project linked to culture, tourism and the environment sector, part-financed by KEP AUSTRIA: The training for trainers “Sustainable Wine Tourism” was organised in Belgrade on 19-26 September 2010 and hosted by National Tourism Organisation of Serbia.

The 20th International Archival Day and the 4th Autumn Archival School, co-financed by the Central European Initiative and the Italian Ministry of Cultural Assets and Activities was organised by the International Institute for Archival Science of Trieste and Maribor (IIAS) on 11-16 October in Trieste.

The joint CEI - RCC Sustainable Energy Development Regional Initiative (SEDRI) was launched at the CEI Headquarters in Trieste on 7-8 October 2010 during the first Task Force meeting.

Ambassador Gerhard Pfanzelter, CEI Secretary General, and Ms. Silvia Acerbi, Vice President of INFORMEST signed a Framework Partnership Agreement between CEI and INFORMEST at the CEI Headquarters in Trieste. Ms Federica Seganti, in charge of International Affairs for the Friuli Venezia Giulia Regional Governemnt, as well as Hon. Roberto Antonione, President of the Italian Delegation to the CEI Parliamentary Assembly, were also present at the Signing Ceremony.

In September, the Center of Excellence in Finance (CEF), in cooperation with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) and the Ministry of Finance of Moldova organised a student award ceremony in the framework of the assignment Capacity Building in Public Accounting (CBIPA) in Chisinau, Moldova.

“EBRD financing of €100 million will support further modernisation of rail infrastructure in Serbia”. This was announced on Serbia’s National Rail Day on 15 September.

On 4 October 2010 Ambassador Brigitte Öppinger-Walchshofer, Managing Director of the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), and Ambassador Gerhard Pfanzelter, CEI Secretary General signed, at the CEI Headquarters in Trieste, the Agreement between ADA and CEI for the period 2011-2013.Austria joined the CEI Know-how Exchange Programme (KEP) in 2008, which since its inception in 2004, had been financed through the Italy-financed CEI Trust Fund at the EBRD alone.

Co-financed by the Italian contribution to the CEI Know-how Exchange Programme (KEP) through the CEI Trust Fund at the EBRD, the project aims to provide significant support to enhancing women’s entrepreneurship in Croatia.