(ANSA) - TRIESTE - The Central European Initiative (Cei) co-funded 57 projects through its Cooperation Fund, financed by Cei member states, with overall approved funding amounting to 506.560,50 euros, and the average funding per project of around 8000 euros.

The Cei Cooperation Fund co-finances small-scale projects in Central and Eastern Europe, mainly seminars, workshops and short training courses with particular attention on mobility - in 2013 alone, the Fund covered mobility expenses for 3375 experts from Cei member states.

Last year, the Cei co-financed activities of organizations of various kind and size from 13 Cei member countries: Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia, Slovenia, Romania and Ukraine. Ngos, youth organizations, scientific institutes, research centers, universities, high schools, writer's associations, film festivals, theatres, development agencies, chambers of commerce, media organizations and associations for women entrepreneurship are amongst the organizations that received Cei support in 2013, which, according to the fund's rules, could be up to 50% of total costs of the project.

The Cei supported 11 projects in the field of Science and technology, 13 in the field of Climate, environment and sustainable energy , 12 in the area of Intercultural cooperation and minorities, 11 in Human resource development, three in Information society and Media, and three in the field of Enterprise development including tourism.

All public and private bodies in CEI Member States, as well as international organizations and other regional bodies are eligible to apply for the funding of the Cei Cooperation fund 2014 - the Call for Proposals is open until May 27th. (ANSA).