The CEI - Executive Secretariat actively participated in the Italian Balkan Trade Summit, organised online by FederCamere on 12-13 March.
This event - marked as the first forum dedicated to business opportunities for Italian companies in the Balkan Peninsula - aimed to achieve several crucial objectives, i.e., facilitating the development of commercial relations between Italian companies and potential clients in the Balkan region; creating a showcase where Italian companies could present themselves and interact directly with local clients without intermediaries: increasing the share of Italian exports in the Balkan Peninsula; or supporting Italian companies through all the stages following the sale, including certifications, transportation, customs, distribution, commercial coordination, and tax practices.
The two-day event saw the participation of representatives from various countries and institutions, thus promoting fruitful exchange of ideas and business opportunities during several conferences and B2B meetings, facilitating the construction of an Italo-Balkan relational network.
CEI Deputy Secretary General, Zsuzsanna Király, emphasised the significance of the CEI's participation, expressing that a common set of foreign policy interests among member countries had been identified. She elaborated that these interests included the consolidation of the European integration process, the acceleration of EU accession for candidate countries, and the reinforcement of the Eastern and South-Eastern borders of the EU. Király further noted that with regard to the member states of the Western Balkans, the CEI had supported several initiatives aimed at capitalising on the integrative potential of diplomacy, policy dialogue, and regional projects. She highlighted their positive spill-over effects and emphasised the ultimate goal of assisting the Western Balkans in their journey towards EU integration.