ZAGREB, December 2, 2018 – The Central European Initiative summit (CEI) will take place in Zagreb on Monday and Tuesday, and the event will mark the completion of Croatia’s year-long presidency over this regional initiative.
The CEI was founded in Budapest in 1989 as a regional intergovernmental forum committed to supporting European integration and sustainable development through cooperation between and among its Member States and with the European Union, international and regional organisations as well as with other public or private institutions and non-governmental organisations.
The main theme of Zagreb’s summit meeting is building security, boosting the economy and enabling the progress.
Croatia is presiding over the CEI from 1 January to 31 December 2018. The next chairmanship will be taken over by Italy.
“One of the main goals of Croatia’s presidency is strengthening the Initiative’s basic mission – supporting the European prospect of member states that want to join the EU. Other Croatian presidency priorities include the transfer of know-how and experience in European integration, economic and cultural cooperation, the challenges of migration, intensifying cooperation between the CEI and other regional and international organizations, and maintaining parliamentary cooperation,” the Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Ministry stated on its web site.
To date, the participation in the Zagreb event of prime ministers of Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania and Slovakia has been confirmed. Also some of the guests at the meeting will be the president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and European Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn.
On Tuesday, a business forum on innovations conducive to competitiveness will be organised by the Croatian Chamber of Commerce within the two-day summit meeting.
The CEI is one of the oldest regional cooperation forums in Central and Eastern Europe. It has 18 member states: Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Montenegro, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Italy, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia and Ukraine. The Initiative’s Secretariat is headquartered in Trieste.
Croatia joined the initiative in 1992.
For more on Croatia’s foreign policy, click here.
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