CENTRAL EUROPEAN INITIATIVE (CEI)

The Central European Initiative (CEI) has 17 members: Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Ukraine. Slovenia has been a full member since 18 June 1992. With its strategy of cohesion and solidarity, the initiative is endeavouring to prevent the development and entrenchment of new dividing lines in Europe following EU enlargement and to advance the capacities of the least developed member states or those member states requiring an economic boost.

In 2004, the initiative is chaired by Slovenia. As the chairing country, Slovenia advocates that the Initiative would focus on those members that were not part of the historic EU enlargement on 1 May 2004. Slovenia thus implements and promotes activities facilitating faster European integration of Eastern and South Eastern Europe. The CEI activities in 2004 are carried out in this spirit. Main issues that Slovenia focuses on include the promotion of entrepreneurship, protection of minorities, the functioning of border checks at the EU's external borders, agriculture, information society and cultural cooperation.

The framework of the CEI activities is provided by working groups which operate in many different subject fields such as agriculture, environment, energy, culture, cross-border cooperation, small and medium sized enterprises, civil protection, combating organised crime, transport, minorities, tourism etc. Cooperation also takes place among the parliaments of individual member states and their chambers of commerce. The Economic Forum within the annual CEI Summit is the most important event in terms of business promotion and is also attended by ministers of the economy.

The most important aspect of CEI political activities is the annual meeting of ministers of foreign affairs and the summit of prime ministers who lay down the guidelines of CEI activities. In Slovenia, the meeting of foreign ministers was held on 24 and 25 May 2004, and the meeting of prime ministers is scheduled for 25 and 26 November 2004. In Portorož, The CEI Foreign Ministers adopted the traditional final document and set the amount of funds in CEI Cooperation Fund for the year 2005; this Fund co-finances various programmes and projects in the member states. They also adopted a decision on extending the mandate of the Austrian Ambassador Dr Harald Kreid, Director General of the CEI Executive Secretariat, for the period 2005-2007.

The CEI has the Executive Secretariat in Trieste which is a permanent body and has the status of an international organisation.

In the period from 25 – 26 November 2004, the Republic of Slovenia, which is presently chairing the Central European Initiative (CEI), will host the regular annual meeting of the Heads of Governments of the seventeen CEI Member States.

During Slovenia’s chairmanship of the Central European Initiative in 2004, there has so far been strong emphasis on the economic component, expressed through various activities. The events and endeavours to date have focused primarily on ensuring greater competitiveness of companies and economic growth, on establishing links in the agricultural sector, and on finding possibilities for greater IT support to business administration.

During its one-year chairmanship of the CEI this year, the Republic of Slovenia completed several activities aimed at strengthening cooperation among CEI Member States in various fields and on various levels. We would like to mention two at ministerial level:

• meeting of CEI countries’ ministers of agriculture during the agricultural and food fair in Gornja Radgona (2 and 3 September 2004), combined with various workshops, and
• meeting of ministers responsible for the information society in Maribor (9 and 10 September 2004), which was accompanied by a business conference of telecommunication companies,

business conference with bilateral meetings of companies from CEI Member States and a business avenue with presentations by agencies for the promotion of investment, which was organised by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, TIPO , the Chamber of Craft and SBDC.

Additional information may be obtained on the CEI web-site .

QUADRILATERALE

The initiative for trilateral cooperation between Slovenia, Hungary and Italy was launched by Slovenia in 1996. With the admission of the Republic of Croatia in September 2000, the Trilaterale became the Quadrilaterale. This is a form of specific project ties and cooperation between the countries situated in the same geopolitical and interest area. In terms of content, cooperation is underway in the fields of internal affairs, defence, culture, environment, regional development, labour and employment.

The political aim and the groundwork of integration within the Quadrilaterale is active support for member states in their integration into Euro-Atlantic structures. By Slovenia's accession into the EU and NATO, the Quadrilaterale offers key support for Croatia in its integration into Euro-Atlantic structures. It also represents the forum for consultations and formation of joint positions on important and complex developments in narrow and wider geographic area.

In 2003, the Initiative was chaired by Slovenia, which ended its chairmanship by a successful meeting of four prime ministers – Mr Rop, Mr Berlusconi, Dr Medgyessy and Dr Sanader – on 30 January 2004 in Brdo pri Kranju. The programme of Slovenia's chairmanship included various activities in the fields of defence cooperation, internal affairs, transport, culture, labour and employment, information society, environmental protection and regional development. The Republic of Slovenia made a breakthrough in cooperation in the field of information society and convened a meeting of ministers of transport with a view to encourage the construction of Pan-European Corridor 5. It has endeavoured to expand the project of publishing and translation of literary works in languages of member states and engaged itself to a large extent in the field of illegal migration between the member states. One of the greatest achievements of 2003 has certainly been close defence and military cooperation which is underway between the three founding members of the Quadrilaterale, i.e. Slovenia, Italy and Hungary, and within which the states have seconded their officers to Kosovo. In 2004, the Quadrilaterale is chaired by Hungary.

ADRIATIC-IONIAN INITIATIVE

Slovenia is a cofounder of the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative (AII), which officially came into being in Ancona in May 2000. In addition to Slovenia, the members are: Italy, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Greece and Serbia and Montenegro. The Initiative received support from the EU, and a representative of the European Commission is invited to all its major meetings.

The purpose of the Initiative is cooperation between members situated along the Adriatic and Ionian Seas in the development and security of the entire region. For Slovenia, cooperation in the Initiative is of great importance, particularly from the aspect of its affirmation as a coastal - Adriatic and Mediterranean - state. Slovenia holds the position that cooperation in the Initiative must focus particularly on the issues associated with the sea and the coastal area. It wants to participate in the Initiative as a developed Mediterranean country and as a responsible and active member of the community in which intense integration processes are underway.

Considering the specific nature of the sea and the coastal area, the countries cooperate in numerous fields which are dealt with within six round tables. The round tables which present the framework of AII activities are the following: the fight against organised crime; protection of the environment and sustainable development; economy, tourism and small and medium-sized enterprises; transport and maritime cooperation; culture and education and interuniversity cooperation.

From May 2003 to May 2004, the AII presidency was held by Slovenia, which has highlighted several areas within AII round tables in the programme of its presidency, which include accelerated implementation of international treaties for the protection of the Adriatic, integrated coastal management and the problem of ballast waters. The Republic of Slovenia devoted additional attention to cooperation in the joint fight against organised crime, with particular focus on the problems of illegal migration, stolen vehicles and trade in illicit drugs. The establishment of maritime passenger traffic and the protection of cultural heritage are planned. Slovenia also included the Slovenian coast with the University of Primorska in the activities during its presidency. In May 2004, the AII presidency was assumed by Serbia and Montenegro, for a period of one year.

DANUBE COOPERATION PROCESS (DCP)

The initiative was launched by Austria and Romania in 2002, with the support of the European Commission and the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe. DCP involves the following members: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Ukraine. The purpose of the initiative is to coordinate various activities associated with Danube and the Danube River Basin, particularly in the areas of transport, environmental protection, economy and tourism. Conferences at the level of foreign ministers and business conferences held every two years provide the framework for cooperation in the region. The second meeting of the DCP Foreign Ministers will be held in Bucharest, on 14 July 2004, while a business conference was also held in Bucharest, on 8-10 October 2003.

ALPS-ADRIATIC WORKING COMMUNITY

The Alps-Adriatic Working Community comprises 17 lands and regions from seven countries: Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland. Slovenia (as it has not yet established regions) and Croatia participate at the state level while other members are individual regions and provinces. The aim of the Working Community is to address and coordinate issues concerning the interests of its members. The Community deals in particular with the following areas: agriculture, forestry, economy, tourism, environmental protection, cultural cooperation, regional planning, cooperation in the fields of sport, health care and youth. The Republic of Slovenia chairs two working groups - regional planning and youth - and co-chairs the working group on sports.