Central European summit held in Albania

Central European summit held in Albania

Seven CEI member states are EU members, and Bulgaria and Romania will join next year.

Participating countries included Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.

"The EU perspective has proven to be a driving force for the reform process and a stabilizing factor," according to a final document of the summit.

The regional new democracies were urged to strengthen democratic institutions, to increase governmental cooperation and "agreed that the fight against transnational organized crime and corruption is one of the goals of common interest to the CEI member states."

Participants reviewed the situation in the CEI region, encouraging closer ties with other regional partners and international organizations aiming at promoting joint projects with regional impact.

"Although political dialogue remains an important element of our work, technical cooperation in infrastructure, energy, transport, small and medium-sized enterprises and human resource development have become an even more important part of our work," CEI Director General Herald Kreid said at a news conference.

The summit follows an economic forum attended by about 900 business leaders from participating countries who discussed reforms and investments for stimulating business development, competitiveness, and entrepreneurship.

Bulgaria took over CEI's annual rotating presidency.