News

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.

The SEETAC project (South-East European Transport Axis Cooperation) was recently selected as one of the best transport projects implemented within  a Transnational Cooperation Programme.

The signing ceremony of the convention between the Friuli Venezia Giulia region and Rete Ferroviaria Italiana for the planning of the missing railroad links on the Italian territory was hosted by the CEI on 16 September.

The Central European Initiative (CEI) together with the University of Trieste organized a two-session gathering linked to the ADRIA A project on 22 September at the CEI headquarters.

The final results of this EU funded project on freight management in urban areas (SUGAR) were analysed on the occasion of the 7th SUGAR Consortium Meeting held on 22-23 September in Palma de Mallorca.

Forty students and civil society activists from the Central European Initiative region (CEI) and beyond gathered in Faenza on the occasion of the 17th edition of  the CEI International Summer School “Beyond the Enlargement. The Wider Europe and the New Neighbourhood”.

On top of the Agenda of the Meeting of the Committee of CEI National Coordinators (CNC) on 13 September at the CEI Headquarters was the preparation of a number of high-level and expert meetings scheduled by the Serbian Presidency until the end of the year.