The “Roadshow” promoted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI), the Central European Initiative (CEI) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), with the support of the CEI Fund at the EBRD financed by Italy, concluded today in Tirana.
The three stops – Belgrade (6 May), Skopje (7 May), and Tirana (8 May) – provided an opportunity to present the joint activities of the CEI-EBRD-MAECI cooperation and to promote the opportunities offered by the Technical Assistance (TA) and Know-how Exchange Programme (KEP), both financed by the Fund.
The meetings were attended by the government authorities of the three countries and their respective CEI National Coordinators, the Italian National Coordinator from MAECI, EBRD representatives in the beneficiary countries, officials from the CEI Executive Secretariat Fund, as well as representatives of local institutions, business communities, and project leaders whose initiatives were financed through the CEI Fund at the EBRD.
In Belgrade, the presentation event was opened by the Italian Ambassador Luca Gori, with the participation of the CEI Secretary General and the Serbian Ministers for European Integration and Foreign Trade.
The presentation highlighted the main areas of CEI-EBRD cooperation in Serbia, financed by the Italian Fund at the EBRD. Beneficiaries of the programmes shared concrete experiences of development in infrastructure and business promotion, alongside knowledge transfer projects in the fields of environmental protection, competitiveness and research. In Serbia, 118 projects have been financed so far through the Fund, amounting to a total value of EUR 11 million.
In Skopje, the meeting was opened by the Italian Ambassador Paolo Palmentieri, the Minister of Energy, and the Italian CEI Coordinator. The work focused on CEI-EBRD cooperation in North Macedonia, where 113 projects have been financed through this instrument, with a total value of EUR 16 million. Key sectors included rail transport, environmental resilience, and, in terms of know-how transfer, public administration reform and cultural heritage protection.
The final stop took place today in Tirana, in the presence of the Italian Ambassador Marco Alberti, the Deputy Minister of Economy, and the Italian CEI National Coordinator. The meeting showcased the concrete contribution of the CEI Fund to strengthening Albania’s entrepreneurial fabric. In Albania, 119 projects have been financed, with a total value of EUR 14 million, in sectors such as transport, energy, and public administration reform.
The Roadshow was a key opportunity to strengthen dialogue between institutions and economic actors, fostering regional synergies and enhancing Italy’s role as the main donor to the CEI Fund at the EBRD. This support is of strategic importance for the socio-economic development of individual countries, and aligns with the CEI’s broader backing of the Western Balkans’ path towards European Union membership.
