On 12 September 2018, the CEI-Executive Secretariat signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Regional Rural Development Standing Working Group (SWG) of South-Eastern Europe aimed at promoting effective regional cooperation in the field of agriculture and rural development. Taking into account the SWG’s and the CEI’s geographical scopes and institutional missions, the MoU will create the appropriate framework for developing joint actions on topics of strategic interest.
As the first initiative, the CEI supported the “42nd Meeting of the SWG Assembly”, which was hosted at the CEI Headquarters in Trieste (Italy) on 12-13 September 2018. The event allowed for a thorough presentation of activities implemented by SWG in the period April-September 2018, in cooperation with the European Commission, the Joint Research Centre and GIZ. Moreover, upcoming activities were discussed, including the Agricultural Policy Forum 2018 and the 12th Annual Meeting of the Ministers from SEE 2018.
Opportunities for collaboration with AREA Science Park and with the CEI were also presented, thus setting the grounds for future joint projects.