News

The President of Macedonia, Gjorge Ivanov, received in Skopje on 15 February the CEI Acting Secretary General, Mr. Giorgio Rosso Cicogna. President Ivanov expressed deep appreciation for the contribution of the CEI to regional cooperation in the Western Balkans and for the excellent collaboration between his Government and the CEI Secretariat, also in connection of the EU- funded project on Strengthening the Role of the Regional Cooperation Council of Sarajevo, currently under implementation by the CEI.

The ECHOS project, funded under the Cross-border Cooperation Programme Italy-Slovenia 2007-2013, has been officially presented during a press conference held in Gorizia on 29 January. Attended by local and regional authorities as well as media representatives from Italy and Slovenia, the event offered the opportunity to present the project activities, the expected results and partnership.

The 1st CEI Committee of National Coordinators Meeting (CNC) under the Hungarian CEI Presidency was held in Budapest on 22 January 2013.

As the EDITS project has a rather vast partnership, in order to ensure the successful implementation of its activities the Project Management Team was established, consisting of partners responsible for the main activities and their outputs. This ensures that the contribution of one activity provides the correct and needed inputs to the following activity.

Last week the CEI Committee of National Coordinators approved ten projects to be co-financed in the framework of the CEI Know-how Exchange Programme (KEP) for an overall commitment of more than 320,000 EUR (295,000 EUR by the CEI Fund at the EBRD - financed by Italy, and 25,000 EUR by Poland). The projects were selected within the 2012 KEP Call for Proposals launched by the Office for the CEI Fund at the EBRD. 

The 3rd Meeting of Task Force of SEDRI - Sustainable Energy Development Regional Initiative took place on 7 December, 2012 in Belgrade, at the Ministry of Energy, Development and Environment Protection of Serbia.

This year's edition of the CEI Business Forum, under the title SME Development: CEI Experience from non-EU to EU, was held on 6 December 2012 at the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in Kyiv, with the participation of representatives of 13 CEI Member States.

Zoran Jovanovic, CEI Deputy Secretary General, attended the official ceremonials dedicated to 100 years of independent Albanian State, organized on November 28 in Tirana. During his stay in Tirana, Jovanovic was received by Selim Belortaja, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Albania, whom he informed on recent and future activities of the organization. The Deputy Foreign Minister expressed his satisfaction with level and intensity of cooperation between Albania and the CEI, and stressed the importance of the latest in the context of European integration.

A review of the results achieved so far and the planning of future activities were on top of the agenda of the 4th Transnational Working Group Meeting of the ATTAC Project - Attractive Urban Public Transport for Accessible Cities, in Thessaloniki, Greece, on 26-27 November. The meeting was hosted by the Thessaloniki Public Transport Authority.

The CEI Committee of National Coordinators last week approved five technical cooperation projects for financing through the CEI Fund at the EBRD - entirely financed by the Italian Government. The overall commitment roughly amounts to 900,000 EUR. A first tranche of projects was approved in June this year for an equivalent committed amount.

A high-level delegation from the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (UNAS) visited Trieste on 28, 29 and 30 November upon invitation by the Secretariat of the Central European Initiative (CEI) and under the auspices of the CEI Ukrainian Presidency.

This year´s CEI Human Resource Development Forum in Prague, under the title Innovation – Tertiary Education – Technical Education, was held on 23 November 2012. During the event, representatives from the Ministries of Education, universitites and other relevant institutions of 13 participating CEI Member States had the chance to present useful information on how the respective sectors of education react to current challenges in their respective countries.

The project Accessibility Improved at Border Crossings for the Integration of South-East Europe (ACROSSEE) was officially launched on the occasion of a three day kick-off meeting held in Trieste at the premises of the CEI, which is the project Lead Partner.

The World Economic Forum’s  first Global Meeting of Regional Organisations was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on 12-13 November 2012.

In collaboration with the Government of the United Arab Emirates, with regional leaders from Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, the event brought together high-level public figures representing regional and international organisations with experts from the World Economic Forum's Network of Global Agenda Councils.

On 19 November 2012, the UN General Assembly gathered in New York for its 40th Plenary Meeting within the 67th session (item 121) on Cooperation between the United Nations and Regional Organisations. The event was attended by several world regional and other organisations such as the Economic Cooperation Organization; the Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe; the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization; the Council of Europe and the Central European Initiative.

The CEI Know-how Exchange Programme (KEP) aims at facilitating know-how and best practice transfer between institutions in EU Member States (and Croatia) and eligible non-EU Member States of the CEI. By co-financing capacity building and technical assistance projects between these two country groups, the KEP also helps non-EU Member States to advance on their path towards EU standards and policies.

The Central European Initiative, Lead Partner of the ADRIA A Project – Accessibility and Development for the
Relaunch of the Inner Adriatic Area – organised the 4th Steering Committee of the project on 23 October 2012 at the CEI headquarters.

“New media contribute to democracy and to advancing the quality of communication, but they cannot substitute professional journalism which provides credibility to public information,” said veteran Slovenian broadcast journalist and manager Boris Bergant in his concluding speech at the VI South East Europe Media Forum (SEEMF) which took place on 22-23 October, 2012 in Becici, Montenegro.  Focusing on the challenges of journalism in the age of new media, the panel discussions centered on social media and blogging, digital games as