The Central European Initiative (CEI) intends to support the strengthening of the RCC Secretariat as the driver of regional projects generation, coordination and monitoring, thus achieving a number of relevant objectives for the ultimate benefit of South-East Europe (SEE) as a whole and of all Western Balkan Countries (WBCs) within the region.

The action aims at making a contribution to the implementation of the RCC Strategy and Work Programme 2011 – 2013, while initiating a dialogue on the forthcoming Strategy and Work Programme 2014 – 2016 with the involvement of all stakeholders at regional, European and international level.
All proposed activities will seek to spread knowledge on, and increase visibility of, the RCC and its decisive role in the region.

The project is financed by the European Union through the Instrument of Pre-accession Assistance – IPA Regional Programme 2010 and will last 24 months (December 2011 – November 2013).

Further information about the announced kick-off meeting will be available soon and will be made available via the event entry also on the wbc-inco.net portal.

Through a regionally owned and led framework, the RCC focuses on promoting and enhancing regional cooperation in South-East Europe (SEE) and supports European and Euro-Atlantic integration of the aspiring countries. The RCC provides operational capacities to, and works under the political guidance of, the SEECP. The work of the RCC relies to the priority areas of economic and social development, energy and infrastructure, justice and home affairs, security cooperation, building human capital, and parliamentary cooperation as an overarching approach.

The project addresses the overall objective of strengthening the RCC Secretariat by improving strategic planning; identification of priorities for general and sector strategies; capitalisation on lessons learned; follow-up of results achieved by recent and current initiatives; match-making of regional problem-solving approaches with donor resources.

The current and further increasing role of the RCC Secretariat in the promotion and coordination of regional cooperation in SEE will constitute an effective, efficient and dynamic boost for SEE Countries, and in particular the WBCs, to tackle more and more their common horizontal issues within a multilateral/regional perspective.

Further information about Central European Initiative

http://www.ceinet.org/

The CEI, established in 1989 by Italy, Austria, Hungary and Yugoslavia, is the oldest intergovernmental forum for regional cooperation: its current membership includes 18 countries of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, nine of which are members of the EU while the remaining nine are in different stages of their path towards EU integration.
Since its inception, the CEI has been assisting its Member States in developing transnational, interregional and cross-border projects aimed at reducing gaps between EU and non-EU countries: therefore, the CEI effectively plays the role of a bridge between macro-regions.

Contacts

Project Manager Mr. Ugo Poli
Tel: +39 040 7786 758 / 749
email: poli@cei-es.org

TAU (Trieste Office): Ms. Ana Sinkovic
Project Officer
tel: +39 040 7786 758
email: sinkovic@cei-es.org

Mr. Bogdan Birnbaum
Project Assistant
tel: +39 040 7786 749
email: birnbaum@cei-es.org

Source: CEI