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CEI Secretary General, Ambassador Gerhard Pfanzelter, participated in the Bled Strategic Forum which took place on 2-3 September 2012. On that occasion, Ambassador Pfanzelter had several informal and formal meetings with a number of distinguished guests and participants.

The 20th International Congress of Chemical and Process Engineering (CHISA 2012) was held in Prague on 25-29 August, with an attendance of almost one thousand participants mainly from Europe (EU and non-EU Member States) as well as from more than 30 countries worldwide.

High-level Ministerial Representatives on Transport and Infrastructure from Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, the European Commission (DG Mobility and Transport), regional organisations (CEFTA, RCC and SEETO) and the South East Europe Joint Technical Secretariat (SEE JTS), gathered in Bled on 29 August 2012, in order to discuss the outcomes and results accomplished by the cooperation among the partners of the SEETAC project - South East European Transport Axis Cooperation.

The first meeting of the project “Rail Hub Cities for South East Europe” (Rail4SEE) was held in Bologna, Italy, on 26-27 July, hosted by the Province of Bologna, Lead Partner of the project. The CEI, which is one of the project partners, attended the meeting and introduced the road map for the implementation of the actions related to the work package “Passengers demand / supply and behaviours”. Moreover, the CEI gave an overview of the main transport characteristics of Trieste and Venice hubs.

In the framework of the project Financial Facilities for SMEs: Training and Capacity Building for Business Support Organisations in non-EU Member States of the Central European Initiative - FIT4SMEs II, three trainings were organised in Tirana (Albania) on 15-16 March 2012, Belgrade (Serbia) on 3-4 April 2012, and Kyiv (Ukraine) on 23-24 April 2012.

Two important meetings of the CEI Parliamentary Dimension gathered the parliamentarians of the 18 CEI Member States: the Parliamentary Committee meeting, held on 24 May 2012 in Kiev (Ukraine), and the meeting of the General Committee on Cultural Affairs, held on 27 April 2012 in Bolzano (Italy).

The Central European Initiative (CEI) Prize of the 10th International Design Contest “Trieste Contemporanea” 2012 has been assigned to Croatian designer Ena Priselec for her project to refashion a coffee grinder.

For this year’s Contest, which registered about 200 participants, artists and designers were asked to select a functional object from the recent past and propose an idea for its redefinition or reuse.

The 4th Steering Committee of the project “Improving Cooperation in South East Europe by Actions for Strengthening the RCC”, to be held on 17-18 July, 2012 at the CEI premises in Trieste, Italy, will focus on the progress achieved so far as well as on the forthcoming activities: design of a pilot ICT platform, production of a documentary under the title “How do I See My Neighbour”, foresights on IPA 2013 – 2020 programming guidelines,  study visits to the Nordic Institutions.

The 3rd Transnational Working Group meeting of the project “Attractive Urban Public Transport for Accessible Cities (ATTAC)” project took place in Bologna, Italy, on 27-28 June, hosted by the Institute of Transport and Logistics. 

Under the title "The Future Built on the Present", the South East Europe (SEE) Programme Annual Conference was held in Bologna on 29 June 2012. This year’s key territorial cooperation event in South-Eastern Europe has offered an excellent platform for disseminating the main results of the South-East European Transport Axis Cooperation Project (SEETAC) among the numerous participants as well as for networking with relevant stakeholders.

Within the framework of the project funded by the European Commission, aimed at “Improving Cooperation in South-East Europe by Actions for Strengthening the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC)”, the Central European Initiative organised a workshop on e-diplomacy at the RCC Headquarters in Sarajevo on 25 – 26 June 2012.

On 25-26 September, two seminars will be organised in Trieste (Italy) by the Central European Initiative, in cooperation with Confindustria (federation of Italian industry and services companies), the EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), and with the support of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Workshop “Guidelines for Rural Tourism Development” was held in Zajecar, Eastern Serbia on 12 -14 June, 2012 as part of the project “Meeting of EU Standards through Rural Tourism Development in Timok Region”, financed by the CEI within the Know-how Exchange Programme - KEP AUSTRIA.

The Committee of National Coordinators, which gathered in Trieste on 12 June 2012, has decided to extend the deadline of the Calls for Proposals of the CEI Cooperation Fund and the CEI Know-how Exchange Programme (KEP). The new deadline is 20 July 2012.

CEI COOPERATION FUND – Call for Proposal 2012

CEI KNOW-HOW EXCHANGE PROGRAMME – Call for Proposals 2012

The Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the CEI Member States (Trieste, 13 June 2012), was dedicated to the topic “Regional Cooperation for European Integration and Bridge between Macro-regions”. The Ministerial meeting was chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Mr. Kostyantyn Gryschenko and offered the opportunity to assess recent developments in the region. All participants underlined the crucial role of the CEI as political forum in support of the European integration process and economic reforms of the countries of South-Eastern and Eastern Europe.

During their meeting in Trieste, on 12 June 2012, the CEI Committee of National Coordinators 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.

Under the motto “Regional Cooperation for European Integration and Bridge between Macro-regions”, the CEI Ministerial Meeting in Trieste on 13 June 2012  will be chaired by H.E. Mr. Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, which holds the CEI Presidency for 2012, and envisages the participation of Foreign Ministers and State Secretaries of the 18 CEI Member States.

Amb. Gerhard Pfanzelter, CEI Secretary General, and Amb. Elena Kirtcheva, the Secretary General of the Vienna Economic Forum met at the CEI Headquarters in Trieste on 4 June 2012 in order to sign a Memorandum of Understanding for enhancing cooperation between the two organisations and developing joint activities.

A delegation from 4 Municipalities from Serbia (Smederevo, Užice, Novi Kneževac, and Knjaževac) participated in a study tour in Slovenia, on 24-26 May 2012, organised within the Project “System of Harmless Disposal of Animal Waste in 4 Municipalities in Serbia”, financed by the CEI within its KEP AUSTRIA programme.

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