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The BiH CEI Presidency organised this year’s Meeting of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the CEI Member States on 16 June in Banja Luka, back to back with the 4th Meeting of the Committee of National Coordinators (CNC).

The gathering was opened by H.E. Igor Crnadak, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who highlighted the importance of regional cooperation in particular in the framework of the CEI, a long-standing intergovernmental forum fostering cohesion and integration among its Member States.
 
The Roma Education Fund (REF) organised the first international Toy Libraries Conference for practitioners working in Roma communities in Belgrade on 6-7 June 2016. The goal of the event was to contribute to building knowledge and experience and to reducing the gap in early childhood education of Roma across Central and South Eastern Europe as well as to establish the Network of Toy Libraries working in Roma communities.
 
In the framework of the CEI Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the meeting of the Parliamentary Committee of the CEI Parliamentary Dimension on „How to improve infrastructure of CEI Member States with special focus on transport and energy“, took place in Sarajevo on 31 May.

The meeting was chaired by Monika Tomić, member of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Within the project „Capacity Building for an Improved Mineral Fuels Quality Monitoring System - Transfer of Best Practices against Grey Economy (FUELPAGE)“, the first training workshop on fuel quality monitoring was held in Belgrade, Serbia on 20 May 2016.

The Networking Meeting with International Organisations operating in the CEI area was held after the 3rd CNC Meeting in Vienna on 30 May.
 
The third CEI Committee of National Coordinators (CNC) Meeting under the BiH Presidency took place in Vienna on 30 May 2016, back to back with a Networking Meeting with other International Organisations. On that occasion, Belarus informed the participants that it was ready to assume the Presidency in 2017.
RAD 2016 took place in Niš, Serbia on 23-27 May 2016. It was organised by the RAD Association in cooperation with the Faculty of Electronic Engineering, of the University of Niš and gathered 214 participants from 36 countries, 141 of which were from CEI countries (99 from non-EU countries and 42 from EU countries).

Connecting China via land and sea with the global economy through the Belt and Road Initiative will eventually encompass three continents, more than 65 countries and more than 4 billion people who produce 55 per cent of the world’s gross national product.
 
The AREA Science Park, Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, the Embassy of Hungary in Rome and ELI-ALPS jointly organised an information day at the AREA Science Park in Trieste on 12 May 2016. 

Offering directions and providing opportunities for innovation and cooperation among diverse actors on regional markets: this was the main objective of the international conference PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT FOR SMARTER BUSINESS - How to learn and share in Age of Knowledge, Innovation and Creativity held in Belgrade on 9 May 2016.
 
Best practice exchange and a special award for the best competitor among the young pianists from CEI Member States marked the programme of the CEI Piano Forum on 10 May 2016. For the second time, the convention aimed at supporting future musical careers took place in the framework of the International Piano Competition in Sacile, Italy, promoted with the support of the CEI Cooperation Fund.

More than 60 people from various regional institutions took part in the seminar held at the Vinnytsia Regional Center for Training (know-how recipient) in Ukraine on 10 May 2016.

The event, organised in the framework of the KEP ITALY project WASTE MGMT in Vinnytsia – Capacity building and transfer of knowledge for increasing and improving professional skills in waste management in the Region of Vinnytsia  by the Italian and Ukrainian partners, focused on the Waste Management situation in the Vinnytsia Region.
 
“In a context of deteriorating expectations of the EU candidate countries towards the enlargement process, the refugee crisis in the Balkans has contributed to broadening the communication channels, reconnecting the WB leaders with the EU institutions at large”, said CEI Secretary General, Giovanni Caracciolo di Vietri, during his opening address at the meeting on Friday 6 May in Trieste, where the implications of the Balkan Route on the EU enlargement process were discussed.
 
OSCE Secretary General, Amb. Lamberto Zannier visited the CEI Secretariat in Trieste on 5 May 2016. On that occasion both Amb. Zannier and CEI Secretary General, Amb. Giovanni Caracciolo di Vietri highlighted the usefulness of regular contacts and staff consultations between the two organisations and expressed their commitment to continuing with the solid and long-lasting OSCE-CEI cooperation.

Approximately 80 participants from eight European countries, namely Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia, attended the seminar on energy efficiency held in Novi Sad on 22 April 2016. The topic on energy efficiency also attracted many key players in the region, mainly representing civil organisations, government bodies and universities.
 
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Igor Crnadak paid a visit to the CEI HQ on 27 April.
 
After a welcome speech by CEI Alternate Secretary General, Amb. Margot Klestil-Loeffler, the Minister shortly briefed the executives and the staff of the CEI Secretariat about the CEI Presidency activities, highlighting key priorities such as promotion of interconnectivity, sustainable development and intercultural cooperation.
 
The CEI is glad to announce a new Call for Proposals for the CEI Know‐How Exchange Programme (KEP) ‐ ITALY. The projects will be co‐financed by the CEI Fund at the EBRD, entirely financed by the Italian Government.

Proposals are to meet the criteria comprehensively outlined in the Call for Proposals and Application Guidelines.

Applicants are requested to fill in and submit the Application Form and Budget Template by 27 June 2016, midnight Trieste Time.
The Director of the Institute for Geo-strategic Research and Foreign Policy (IGRFP) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia, Ambassador Abdulkadar Memedi, accompanied by Ambassador Jovan Tegovski, paid a visit to the CEI Secretariat in Trieste on 19-20 April 2016.
 
The First Annual Conference of the Western Balkans Migration Network (WB-MIGNET) in Tirana on 15-16 April 2016, marked the initiation of the Network activities. It was attended by a number of representatives from government institutions, international organisations, academia and students.
 
On 15 April 2016, the Headquarters of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London hosted the CEI annual Steering Committee (SC) and CEI Committee of National Coordinators (CNC) meetings. The events were held under the CEI Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina for  2016. 

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