Central European Initiative summit in Albania

TIRANA, Nov. 24 – Albania held, on Friday, a summit of prime ministers and senior officials from 18 central and southeast European countries, who met to discuss closer regional cooperation and to help some member countries with their NATO and EU membership bids. The summit included five prime ministers and other senior officials from the Central European Initiative, or CEI, which was created 17 years ago to strengthen ties between the region and the European Union. The annual summit was held in Albania, as the tiny Balkan country held the organization’s annual rotating presidency (Bulgaria takes over the CEI’s presidency). Of the participating countries, seven member states are also EU members, and Bulgaria and Romania will join next year. The others are in the integration process toward EU membership. The summit included representatives from Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.
“The EU perspective has proven to be a driving force for the reform process and a stabilizing factor,” said a final document. The regional new democracies were urged to strengthen democratic institutions and to increase governmental cooperation, and “agreed that the fight against transnational organized crime and corruption is one of the goals of common interest to the CEI member states.” Participants reviewed the situation in the CEI region, encouraging closer ties with other regional partners and international organizations aimed at promoting joint projects with regional impact. “Although political dialogue remains an important element of our work, technical cooperation in infrastructure, energy, transport, small and medium-sized enterprises and human resource development have become an even more important part of our work,” CEI Director General Herald Kreid said at a news conference. The summit follows an economic forum attended by about 900 business leaders from participating countries, who discussed reforms and investments for stimulating business development, competitiveness, and entrepreneurship.