Adrian Keler

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Central European Initiative Secretariat for CEI
Projects
CEI financial instruments to support the
development assistance and the know-how transfer
in the region how to apply for the CEI
co-financing
8th CEI Summit Economic Forum Bratislava, 23-24
November 2005
Adrian Keler CEI-PS, Junior Executive Officer
www.ceinet.org/KEP
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CEI Mandate
Established in 1989 as an intergovernmental
forum for political, economic and cultural
co-operation among its Member States

• Principal objectives
• strengthen the process of economic transformation
  of the countries in transition
• strengthen the participation of all Member States
  in the process of European integration
• strengthen co-operation between Member States

www.ceinet.org/KEP
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Recent transformation
The CEI has undergone, during the last three
years, a transformation from being predominantly
oriented towards political dialogue to an
organisation focused on

• transfer of know-how

• transfer of technology

• investment promotion

• promotion of scientific research

• post-graduate training in the areas of economics,
  informatics and public administration

• promotion of civil society, especially in the
  fields of culture, media and youth affairs

www.ceinet.org/KEP
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Traditional funding instrument CEI Co-operation
Fund

• established in June 2001 (Meeting of the
  Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Milan)

• agreed contributions by CEI Member States, will
  be increased in 2006 by 10

• facilitates implementation of programmes and
  projects called CEI Co-operation Activities
  organised and sponsored by the CEI

• up to now more than 222 Co-operation Activities
  which constitute a total value of 23 million EUR
  have been funded

www.ceinet.org/KEP
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Two new instruments after EU Enlargement in May
2004

• Know-how Exchange Programme (KEP)

To help Emerging Donors (new EU MS) deliver
development assistance programmes to CEI
countries outside the EU

• CEI Funding Unit

To attract EU funding for CEI projects and to
join it with the CEI funds
www.ceinet.org/KEP
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Criteria for project co-financing

• Conceived as a call for proposals open all year
  no specific deadline

• Open to public and private sector applicants

• Project leader comes from a donor institution/
  country (normally from an EU CEI Member State)

• Beneficiary/ies comes from a non-EU CEI Member
  State

• Application Form submitted at least 4 months
  before projects implementation date

• CEI co-financing up to 50 of the total cost of a
  project normally will not exceed EUR 40.000 per
  project.

www.ceinet.org/KEP
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Priority areas (1)

• FDI promotion

• trade facilitation (liberalisation, customs
  regimes and practices)

• privatisation and private sector development

• public administration and institutional
  development (including public finance management,
  public procurement regimes, the absorption
  capacity for EU programmes and institution
  capacity building)

• legislative reforms in the above mentioned areas

www.ceinet.org/KEP
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Priority areas (2)

• agriculture (including food safety standards,
  rural development, farmers cooperatives)

• energy (energy efficiency, renewable sources of
  energy)

• financial services sector (support to banking,
  capital markets and insurance)

• information society and innovative technologies

• infrastructure (transport and telecommunications,
  including public private partnerships, municipal
  engineering)

• environment (environmental protection,
  sustainable development)

• SMEs development, financing (including local
  economic development and employment, micro
  credits, etc.)

www.ceinet.org/KEP
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Examples of KEP activities

• secondment of staff

• on-the-job trainings

• advisory missions

• need assessments, surveys of problems,
  performance, etc.

• assistance in the preparation of investment
  projects or applications for grant or aid
  programmes, projects evaluation

• technology transfer for the application of
  research and innovation

• preparation of manuals, promotional or technical
  materials, etc.

• translations of laws, treaties, manuals, etc.

www.ceinet.org/KEP
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After first year of activity...

• Several projects submitted to the CEI but the
  majority did not meet criteria
• know-how transfer not enough structured, e.g.
  seminars, conferences
• additional co-financing not secured
• subject areas not covered by the KEP (e.g.
  culture)

• Difficult to get information on ODA priority
  areas, recipient countries, implementing
  agencies, etc.

• Some relations established with ODAs in Poland,
  Slovakia and Slovenia

www.ceinet.org/KEP
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After first year of activity...

• Different donor rules and practices hamper
  possibilities for combined use of ODA and KEP
  funds

• ODA applicants can usually apply for a total
  financing of projects, thus, they are not
  motivated to apply for additional sources of
  financing.

• Joining Forces in Co-operation for Development
  Assistance meeting on development assistance,
  Trieste, 10 June 2005

www.ceinet.org/KEP
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Examples of approved KEP projects
CEI support to Wholesale Markets Development in
Ukraine
submitted by
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
www.ceinet.org/KEP
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CEI support to Wholesale Markets Development in
Ukraine
Background

• Outcome of previous CEI activities in the
  wholesale markets sector

• Development of Wholesale Markets priority area
  of CEI WG on Agriculture followed by the
  establishment of the CEI Wholesale Markets
  Foundation (WMF)

• Trilateral cooperation

• donor IO or IFI beneficiary result of a new
  approach discussed at the Meeting for Development
  Assistance, Trieste, 10 June 2005

• concept of the project was discussed by FAO and
  CEI-PS at the WMF Annual Meeting

• Linked to recent political developments - strong
  commitment expressed by the new Ukrainian
  Government towards the development of WM sector
  in the country.

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CEI support to Wholesale Markets Development in
Ukraine
Projects Summary

• Donors Italy and Poland
• Beneficiary Ukraine
• Objective Transfer of Italian and Polish
  know-how in wholesale markets development to
  Ukraine.
• Projects activities

• study tour in Italy (focused on legislative and
  other public support mechanisms)
• study tour in Poland (focused on the involvement
  of private stakeholders in the process of
  wholesale markets development)
• advisory services in Ukraine by Italian, Polish,
  and FAO experts

www.ceinet.org/KEP
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CEI support to Wholesale Markets Development in
Ukraine
Projects Summary

• Planned results the main result of the project
  will be to improve the quality of Ukraines
  wholesale markets investment plan. The ultimate
  result will be to have this plan financed under
  World Banks ACSF (Agricultural Competitiveness
  and Food Safety) project.

• Implementation October 2005 May 2006

www.ceinet.org/KEP
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Planned KEP projects
www.ceinet.org/KEP
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Building Effective Food Safety Control Systems
in Ukraine

• Partners Hungary (donor) Ukraine (beneficiary)
• Objective Transfer to Ukraine of Hungarian
  know-how in food safety control practices and
  legislation (Hungary is considered as the best
  practice in the region in this field).
• Projects activitives (1) A five day learning
  retreat in Ukraine with experts from the
  Hungarian Food Safety Authority (HFSO), the
  European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the FAO
  SEUR office (2) A study tour in Hungary at the
  HFSO (3) A study tour to Brussels at the EFSA
• Implementation end 2005-beginning 2006

www.ceinet.org/KEP
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Peer Review Initiative

• Partners Czech Republic, Italy and Poland
  (donors to be confirmed) Croatia, Romania and
  Ukraine (beneficiaries)
• Objective The project will consist of three peer
  reviews, to take place in Dubrovnik-Neretva
  (Croatia), Alba (Romania) and Odessa (Ukraine).
  Review teams of economic development experts will
  undertake study visits to host regions and
  provide advice on enhancing regional economic
  development policies and practices. The ultimate
  result will be to have outputs of peer reviews
  transformed into new regional development
  policies of three host regions.
• Projects activitives Three peer reviews
  undertaken by experts from the CEI-EU countries.
• Implementation January 2006 September 2006 (to
  be confirmed)

www.ceinet.org/KEP
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Other projects in pipeline

• ENKNOVA transfer to Croatia of Slovenian
  know-how in innovation policy making. Project at
  the Municipal level with involvement of
  universities, research institutes, technology
  parks, etc.

• NGO ACADEMY a training programme for NGOs in
  Serbia Montenegro and Croatia. The project
  promotes and supports the transition of NGOs
  (mainly those active in the civil society sector)
  from donor oriented to self-sustainable
  non-profit entities.

www.ceinet.org/KEP
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• More information available at www.ceinet.org

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Thank you for your attention!

• Contact details

Adrian Keler Secretariat for CEI Projects Tel.
39 040 7786 732 Fax. [phone] E-mail
keler_at_cei-es.org Web www.ceinet.org/KEP