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 Meeting was also attended by the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Vice President of the European Investment Bank and the EU Ambassador. The Secretary Generals of the Regional Cooperation Council, the Adriatic Ionian Initiative and the Organisation for the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, were also present as special guests.
The event, under the title “Fresh Thinking for Competitive Economy in CEI”, was chaired by H.E. Mr. Mirko Cvetković, President of the Government of the Republic of Serbia. He and CEI Secretary General, Amb. Gerhard Pfanzelter opened the meeting.
The Summit acknowledged the CEI’s role as an active player in Europe, by fostering political dialogue and facilitating the economic development in its Member States. The Summit also encouraged the CEI to continue its mission of Regional Cooperation for European Integration and to act as a bridge between the Baltic, the Danube, the Adriatic and the Black Sea. The participants praised the strong project-oriented character of the CEI and reaffirmed the overriding objective to strengthen CEI ties with the European Union.
from left: CEI Secretary General Ambassador Gerhard Pfanzelter, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic, Prime Minister Luksic and Ambassador of Italy to Serbia Armando Varricchio during press conference