News
Through the CEI Fund at the EBRD the CEI has provided technical assistance grants of around €300.000 for a project aimed at rehabilitating key sections of Corridor X, the main north-south route running through Serbia, which is also the country’s key regional link with its neighbours.
The 8th Meeting of the SEETAC Project (South East European Transport Axis Cooperation), organised by the Office of the President of the Republic of Serbia in cooperation with the Serbian Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy, took place on 18 January 2012 in Belgrade.
The results of the referendum in Croatia, with a decisive majority of voters in favour of the accession to the European Union, have been warmly welcomed by the Central European Initiative whose mission is regional cooperation for European integration.
CEI Secretary General, Amb. Gerhard Pfanzelter, stated that “Croatia’s success is also a success of the Central European Initiative which has invested funds and projects to facilitate European integration”.
The CEI Prize assigned in the framework of the Trieste Film Festival has been awarded this year to the Macedonian director Milcho Manchevski for his multifaceted, thirty-year career in cinema productions. The CEI Prize (3.000 EUR) was presented by CEI Deputy Secretary General, Mr Zoran Jovanovic, during the awarding ceremony in Trieste on 21 January.
High-level politicians and participants from Transport institutions, municipalities, regional and local authorities from all around Europe gathered on 13 December in Bologna on the occasion of the final conference of the SUGAR Project (Sustainable Urban Goods Logistics Achieved by Regional and Local Policies).
The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided to make a voluntary contribution of €25,000 to the CEI Know-how Exchange Programme (KEP), an instrument which supports projects and programmes focused on the transfer of know-how and best practice from EU to non-EU CEI Member States.
Following the approval of the Committee of National Coordinators (CNC) in Belgrade last month, the CEI Fund at the EBRD will support four new Technical Cooperation Projects (TC) and three new Know-how Exchange Programme (KEP) projects. The activities aim to tackle sectors of particular importance in the light of the current economic situation.
The Central European Initiative was invited to participate as stakeholder in the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) days on 29-30 November 2011 in Antwerp, Belgium. During the event the European Commission presented the proposal for the new TEN-T Guidelines, adopted by the EC on 19 October 2011.
On 9 December 2011 the Central European Initiative was granted observer status in the United Nations General Assembly by resolution 66/111. The unanimous decision of the General Assembly expresses the recognition of the world body for the CEI as the largest and oldest intergovernmental forum for regional cooperation.
The integrated and interdisciplinary regional project on Next Generation Biofuels, promoted by the CEI, was thoroughly discussed upon during an expert meeting on 24 November in Belgrade (after its endorsement by the Minister of Science and Technology who met for the very first time ever in Trieste on 19 October, 2011).
The Task Force Meeting of the Joint CEI – RCC Regional Initiative on Sustainable Energy Development (SEDRI) in Belgrade on 24 November focused on the SEDRI Project Proposals Inventory.
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.