News
SARAJEVO, 16 March 2012 – More than 50 participants at the kick-off meeting for the project Improving Cooperation in South-East Europe by Actions for Strengthening the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) agreed in Sarajevo today that enhancing RCC role is vital for upgrading regional cooperation.
The Project on Sustainable Urban Goods Logistics Achieved by Regional and Local Policies (SUGAR), running from November 2008 to February 2012, focused on addressing the problem of inefficient and ineffective management of urban freight distribution, a critical component of the overall urban transport system and a primary source of vehicle pollutant emissions.
The High-level Forum on Tourism, held under the Ukrainian Presidency in Kyiv on 1 March, was opened by Olena Shapovalova, Chairman of the Ukraine State Agency for Tourism and Resorts. In her welcome speech she confirmed the commitment of the Ukrainian Government to further develop its tourism sector and stressed that EURO 2012 would be an extraordinary opportunity to reach this goal.
The formal decision of the European Council to grant candidate status to Serbia is warmly welcomed by the Central European Initiative (CEI) whose core mission is “regional cooperation for European integration”.
The First and Second Steering Committee meetings for the EU-funded project “Improving Cooperation in South-East Europe by Actions for Strengthening the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC)” took place in Sarajevo on 20- 22 February at the premises of Regional Cooperation Council (RCC).
On the occasion of the 10 years of existence of its Cooperation Fund (2001-2011), the CEI has analysed the concrete results obtained through the implementation of the Cooperation Activities, small scale projects financed out of this Fund usually taking the form of conferences, seminars, workshops and festivals.
“The topics of the SAFE ADRIA project are part of the long-term development strategy of the port of Bar. Transferring this know-how is crucial in order to implement these practices also in our port”. This is the opinion of Mr. Predrag Ivanovic, President of the Board of Directors of the port of Bar, expressed during the final event of the SAFE ADRIA project.
The Central European Initiative is glad to present the Annual Report 2011 of the Secretary General.
Within the framework of the project called “Monitoring SME Policy Implementation in the Western Balkans” the Coordinators of the National Small Business Act gathered for their second meeting on 7-8 February 2012 at the OECD-LEED headquarters in Trento.
The first meeting of the Committee of National Coordinators (CNC) in the framework of the Ukrainian Presidency was held in Kyiv on 10 February. It was officially opened by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, H.E. Mr. Kostyantyn Gryshchenko.
The first Assembly meeting of the newly established European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) was held on 3 February in Gorizia. EGCT is the first Italian based multilateral body with a fully legal international personality.
The second meeting of the ADRIA A Project on airport synergies was held on the 26 January 2012 at the Airport of Ljubljana Jože Pučnik.
The 2nd Transnational Working Group meeting of the Project on Attractive Urban Public Transport for Accessible Cities (ATTAC) took place in Maribor, Slovenia, from 31 January to 1 February 2012.
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.