MINSK, 31 October (BelTA) - Contacts and membership in the Central European Initiative (CEI) are always extremely beneficial and even profitable, CEI Secretary General Giovanni Caracciolo di Vietri said in an interview with the Belarus One TV channel on 30 October, BelTA has learned.
“Contacts and membership in the Central European Initiative always bring benefits and even profit. Close contacts between the organization and the participating states can be beneficial to the host side as far as investments are concerned,” Giovanni Caracciolo di Vietri said.
In his words, presidency in the CEI opens up opportunities for developing cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. “This also means contacts with the EBRD, new ideas for the government, new opportunities that can be highly fruitful,” the CEI Secretary General said.
Giovanni Caracciolo di Vietri also noted that the presidency in the CEI can help reach a better balance between the two geostrategic zones which make part of the organization.
As was reported, Belarus will preside over the Central European Initiative in 2017. A ministerial working group was set up to prepare for Belarus' presidency in the CEI. The group has been headed by Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov.
The Central European Initiative is a regional organization founded in 1989 by Italy, Austria, Hungary and Yugoslavia. At present the CEI unites 18 countries (Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine). Belarus joined the CEI in 1996.
