The Central European Initiative (CEI) is a regional intergovernmental forum established in 1989, following the fall of the Berlin wall. It gathers 17 Member States in Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe to promote regional cooperation for EU integration and sustainable development. The CEI headquarters have been in Trieste, Italy, since 1996.
Cooperation is also carried out at project level through its funds (Cooperation Fund; CEI Fund at the EBRD), programmes (Know-how Exchange Programnme; Technical Cooperation Programme), as well as design and management of projects supporting regional partnerships. Thanks to these instruments the CEI is able to fully implement the goals set in its three-year Plan of Action.