News

This year’s CEI Human Resources Development Forum was held on 25 November in Prague back to back with the meeting of the CEI Network of Focal Points on Human Resource Development. 

The Committee of National Coordinators (CNC) met for the last time this year under the Serbian Presidency on 25 November in Belgrade.

A Grant Agreement related to the project-proposal “Improving Cooperation in South-East Europe by Actions for Strengthening the Regional Cooperation Council” was signed yesterday by the Central European Initiative (CEI) and the Directorate General for Enlargement of the European Commission.

A group of students and teachers from the Belgrade Design School spent a week in Trieste for a twinning programme with the Istituto d’Arte Nordio.

The Central European Initiative hosted on 7 November 2011 the institution of the Technical council, foreseen by the ADRIA A project. The organ will last for the whole duration of the project and it will be made up of the University of Trieste, the Venice International University, the University of Ferrara and the University of Ljubljana.

The kick-off conference of the Project on Attractive Urban Public Transport for Accessible Cities (ATTAC) took place in Miskolc-Lillafuered, Hungary, on 19 October 2011.

The Office for the CEI Fund at the EBRD and the EBRD Resident Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in cooperation with the Italian Embassy in Sarajevo, organised a promotional event in Sarajevo, on 26 October 2011.

The EBRD Vice President for Operational Policies, Jan Fischer, paid a visit to the Italian delegation of the CEI Parliamentary Assembly, in Rome, on 4 October 2011.

On the occasion of its meeting in Belgrade on 9-11 November under the Serbian Presidency, the CEI Parliamentary Assembly adopted a Final Declaration which stresses the importance of EU integration for the Western Balkans and of strengthening relations between EU-Eastern Partnership Countries.

Co-financed by the Italian Government’s contribution to the CEI Know-how Exchange Programme (KEP) through the CEI Fund at the EBRD and by the Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia (Italy), the recently approved 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 will be implemented by Informest from October 2011 to March 2012.

In preparation of the upcoming Ukrainian Presidency in 2012, Secretary General, Amb. Gerhard Pfanzelter was received in Kiev by Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Kostyantyn Gryshchenko on 11 November 2011.

This year’s XI CEI Youth Forum held on 2-4 November in Subotica (Serbia) under the Serbian Presidency was organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sport of the Republic of Serbia.

Prime Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Romania and Ukraine, Deputy Prime Ministers of Albania and Poland, Ministers of Economy of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Macedonia and other high-level representatives of Belarus, Croatia, Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Moldova and Slovakia met on 4 November 2011, in Belgrade, on the occasion of the CEI Summit under this year’s Serbian Presidency.

The Central European Initiative (CEI) and the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) are pleased to announce the winner of the CEI SEEMO Award for Outstanding Merits in Investigative Journalism 2011,  Mr. Włodzmierz Kalicki.

The Office of the Prime Minister in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development of the Republic of Serbia, is organising the annual CEI Summit on 4 November 2011 in Belgrade, Serbia.

For the first time in the CEI’s history the Serbian Presidency organised a meeting of CEI Ministers of Science and Technology, in Trieste on 19 October 2011. Delegations from CEI Member States attended the meeting, including 6 Ministers and 6 Deputy Ministers and other high officials, as well as a representative of the European Commission (Directorate General for Research and Innovation) and other guests.

The Sincrotrone Trieste “Elettra” Laboratory is hosting the opening session. Serbian Minister of Education and Science, Mr. Zarko Obradovic, will chair the meeting. Italy will be represented by the Undersecretary of Education, University and Research, Mr. Giuseppe Pizza.

The Secretary General of the Central European Initiative (CEI), Ambassador Gerhard Pfanzelter, took part in an informal meeting of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the CEI, the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) and the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative (AII) on 23 September 2011.