Serbia’s 2025 CEI Chairmanship: Regional Connectivity and Integration Opportunities in CEI

The CEI and Serbia’s Leadership Role

The Central European Initiative (CEI) is the oldest and one of the largest forums of regional cooperation in Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe. Founded in 1989 amid the post-Cold War opening, the CEI today counts 17 member states and is headquartered in Trieste, Italy. Its core mission is to bridge the countries of Central and Eastern Europe through dialogue and development, overcoming past divisions. The CEI’s rotating annual Chairmanship (or Presidency) passes among member states; on 1 January 2025, Serbia assumed this role, marking a significant moment for Serbia to shape the regional agenda.

Serbia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has highlighted the importance of this opportunity. Foreign Minister Marko Đurić emphasized that the CEI is a vital platform for strengthening regional cooperation, deepening good-neighborly relations, and building solid partnerships across the region. Under Serbia’s chairmanship, Belgrade has signaled a commitment to advance infrastructural and economic connectivity while jointly working to preserve stability and security in Europe. Minister Đurić noted that Serbia’s CEI agenda focuses on completing ongoing projects and deepening connectivity among neighbors, steps seen as “vital for progress toward European Union membership”. By injecting “new energy” into the work of this longstanding regional organization, Serbia aims to highlight the importance of stronger regional connectivity and cooperation. In practice, this entails a range of priorities: from improving transport links and institutional ties to promoting modern technologies, such as AI and biotech,  and coordinating closely with Italy, the host country of the CEI Secretariat. Two high-level events, a CEI Parliamentary Assembly and an inter-ministerial meeting, are planned in Belgrade in November 2025, leading up to the annual Foreign Ministers’ meeting, where Serbia will hand over the chairmanship to the next country.

Serbia’s approach explicitly acknowledges the critical support of Italy in the CEI. Italian leadership was instrumental in the Initiative’s founding, and Italy remains a key pillar of its functioning. As Minister Đurić remarked, without Italy’s steadfast support, the CEI “would not have become a lasting and successful mechanism of regional cooperation”. This deference underscores how Italy’s role – historically and presently – undergirds the CEI’s effectiveness. With Serbia at the helm for 2025 and Italy as a founding anchor, the stage is set for a chairmanship focused on connectivity, cooperation, and aligning the region’s integration trajectory with broader European goals.

Strategic Priorities under Serbia’s CEI Chairmanship

Serbia’s CEI chairmanship has outlined several strategic priorities to reinforce regional cohesion and development. These priorities dovetail with the CEI’s long-term objectives and address key areas of interest for Central and Eastern Europe’s future:

• Regional Cooperation & Integration: The CEI remains a bridge between EU members and those still on the accession path, fostering dialogue and preparing states for deeper integration. Under Serbia’s leadership, the Initiative keeps EU enlargement for the Western Balkans front and center, while also coordinating support to Ukraine, itself a CEI member pursuing a European future. By stepping up diplomatic and parliamentary contacts, CEI underscores a common commitment to democratic values and stability. Recent meetings stressed closer alignment with the EU and regional organizations, showing that through unity, “challenges become opportunities for growth” in Central and Eastern Europe. In practice, CEI provides a platform for reforms and joint projects that move members closer to Euro-Atlantic institutions, complementing the EU’s enlargement agenda.

  
  

• Energy Connectivity & Security: The CEI puts energy cooperation high on its agenda, focusing on renewables, efficiency, and security. Many members still depend on single suppliers or outdated grids, so the goal is to diversify and interconnect. That means investing in cross-border infrastructure, from gas interconnectors to modern electricity links, to strengthen resilience. The CEI’s efforts also tie into broader initiatives like the Three Seas Initiative, which is reshaping north-south energy corridors in Eastern Europe, with Trieste emerging as a strategic hub for both the planned IMEC corridor and Three Seas networks. For Serbia, this is especially important. Still heavily reliant on Russian oil and gas, Belgrade sees diversification as a strategic priority. CEI-backed cooperation on pipelines, grids, and green energy projects directly supports Serbia’s push to broaden its energy mix, reduce dependence on a single supplier, and build lasting resilience.

  
  

• Infrastructure & Transport Connectivity: Physical connectivity (roads, railways, ports, and digital corridors) is at the core of regional integration. Serbia has made this a priority under its CEI chairmanship, using the forum to accelerate projects linking Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe. In June 2025, Belgrade convened national coordinators in Trieste alongside the Transport Community to plan the modernization of transport links across the Western Balkans, Moldova, and Ukraine, with an emphasis on integration into the TEN-T corridors. The CEI backs not only political dialogue but also practical financing, often in cooperation with the EBRD, to make infrastructure more sustainable and climate-resilient. Trieste’s port has become a symbol of these ambitions: CEI delegates toured it to highlight its role as an Adriatic gateway linking Central Europe to global maritime routes. CEI Secretary General Franco Dal Mas called the Port of Trieste “a key asset for regional connectivity,” while Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani described it as “Europe’s bridge to the Western Balkans” and “the terminal of the Cotton Route” in reference to the IMEC corridor. Upgrading transport, from Pan-European rail corridors to new highways, is thus a clear priority, seen as vital for unlocking trade, tourism, and people-to-people exchange across the region.

  
  

• Economic Diplomacy & Development: The CEI functions as an engine of economic diplomacy, combining high-level forums with on-the-ground projects to strengthen ties and foster development. Through its Economic Dimension, it convenes chambers of commerce, hosts the annual Economic Forum, and co-finances initiatives such as Balkan economic gatherings in Zagreb and the Italian-Balkan Trade Summit. At the same time, tangible projects are delivered via the CEI Fund at the EBRD, funded largely by Italy, which has supported more than 200 ventures in transport, energy, and sustainable development. By boosting SME cooperation, improving logistics, and financing infrastructure, the CEI complements political dialogue with concrete economic benefits, building both goodwill and interdependence across its member states.

Italy’s Role and Trieste’s Strategic Importance

Italy’s role in the Central European Initiative is foundational and ever-present. As a founding country of the CEI in 1989 and the host of its Trieste-based Executive Secretariat since 1996, Italy has consistently viewed the Initiative as a strategic tool for regional engagement. Rome’s support, diplomatically, financially, and institutionally, has been crucial in sustaining the CEI as a viable forum over the past three decades. It is therefore no surprise that under Serbia’s 2025 chairmanship, Italy continues to exercise significant influence and to champion the CEI’s activities as aligned with Italy’s broader regional vision.

Trieste lies at the heart of that vision. This northeastern Italian port city, historically a crossroads between Western Europe and the Balkans, has re-emerged as a key junction in Europe’s geopolitical and logistical networks. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani’s high-profile visit to Trieste in March 2025 underscored this point. Tajani chose Trieste – rather than Rome – to relaunch the CEI’s role in Europe’s eastward and southward strategies. Meeting with CEI Secretary General Franco Dal Mas and local leaders, he declared that Italy is doing “everything possible” to speed up the Western Balkans’ EU accession and insisted on an “increasingly strong Italian and European presence in this part of Europe”. In Tajani’s words, Trieste’s growing geopolitical clout makes it an ideal platform to project Italy’s commitment to regional integration.

Indeed, Trieste’s strategic geography is unique. It provides the most direct maritime access to Central European industrial heartlands like Austria, Bavaria, and Hungary, effectively serving as the optimal port for Central Europe. As a “natural gateway” to landlocked nations, Trieste is a vital asset in Italy’s logistics strategy and economic diplomacy. At the same time, the city sits at a geopolitical hinge point between major initiatives: it is the Mediterranean endpoint of the newly proposed India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor and the southern outlet of the Three Seas Initiative, which links the Baltic, Adriatic, and Black Sea regions. In other words, Trieste is where Euro-Atlantic connectivity and Indo-Mediterranean connectivity can intersect. “Trieste is back on the map,” Tajani proclaimed, noting that the city is evolving into a platform where EU enlargement, Euro-Atlantic connectivity, and global infrastructure corridors converge.

Within the CEI context, Italy leverages Trieste’s status to host and inspire regional cooperation. Many CEI gatherings and workshops take place in Trieste, taking advantage of Italy’s hospitality and the symbolism of the city. The Italian Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee recently went so far as to unanimously approve a resolution aimed at strengthening the CEI, explicitly recognizing the Organization’s strategic importance and the value of its Trieste-based Secretariat. This July 2025 resolution (tabled by Senator Stefania Craxi) reaffirmed Italy’s commitment to the CEI as a platform for political, economic, and diplomatic collaboration – especially in support of Western Balkan EU integration and assistance to Ukraine. It also paved the way for commemorating the CEI Secretariat’s 30th anniversary in Trieste with a series of events in 2026, underscoring Italy’s pride in hosting the CEI and its intent to promote new opportunities for cooperation.

Both Italy and Serbia appear keen to maximize Trieste’s role as a hub for Central and Eastern European integration. Serbian officials have openly acknowledged Trieste’s importance: “Trieste has for years served as a gateway to Central and Eastern Europe, and it will continue to do so,” observed Serbia’s CEI National Coordinator Miloš Todorović, noting that Serbia intends to make the most of the Port of Trieste given its proximity and logistical advantages. This convergence of Italian and Serbian perspectives suggests a timely opportunity. Trieste’s convening power could be harnessed to visibly advance the CEI’s mission. For example, by hosting a high-level CEI summit or special meeting in Trieste that gathers all 17 member states. Such an event, against the backdrop of Trieste’s historic port and the CEI Secretariat, would carry powerful symbolism: it would physically place Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern European leaders around the same table in the city that bridges their regions. By doing so, Italy and Serbia would send a cohesive message of regional unity. Convening CEI member states in Trieste during Serbia’s chairmanship would reinforce the idea of the CEI as one region with shared goals and highlight Italy’s role as both a facilitator and stakeholder in Central European cohesion. In practical terms, this could inject fresh momentum into CEI cooperation, aligning the Initiative more closely with the spirit of the Trieste Summit concept that Italian leaders are cultivating, and giving tangible form to the oft-cited notion of Trieste as “Europe’s bridge” to its eastern neighbors.

European Integration and US Strategic Interests

Key American interests in supporting CEI include:

• Support for EU enlargement & NATO orientation: The CEI’s push for EU membership in the Western Balkans and support for Ukraine’s European path aligns with Washington’s strategy of backing strong, autonomous allies in Central and Eastern Europe. The current US administration treats these countries as priority partners, reliable actors who are responsible for their own defense, and Serbia also shares those same values and strategic interests.

  
  

• Partnership with Serbia as a stabilizing actor: In US eyes, Serbia’s orientation toward stability and regional cooperation makes it a natural partner. Through CEI engagement, the US can reinforce ties with Serbia while also supporting broader European integration and further deepening the cooperation with the country that already plays a key stabilizing role in the Western Balkans.

  
  

• Energy diversification & security: Energy security is a strategic priority for the US Supporting regional LNG and interconnection projects helps European partners break dependence on a single supplier. Trieste is well placed for this: the potential revival of the Zaule LNG terminal project would build a solid entry point for liquified natural gas into Central Europe, alongside the Krk terminal (Croatia). This would strengthen resilience, align with US goals for energy diversification.

  
  

• Infrastructure connectivity: Modernizing transport corridors, especially rail and highway links, is vital to US interests because it increases strategic mobility and economic integration. CEI-supported infrastructure projects that connect the Balkans to Central Europe dovetail with US-favored corridors like the Three Seas Initiative and the IMEC route. Improved connectivity also bolsters regional defense cooperation by increasing logistical flexibility and counters Russian or Chinese influence in the region.

  
  

• Regional resilience & multilateral cooperation: The CEI’s inclusive platform brings EU and non-EU states together under rules grounded in Western norms. That helps non-members adopt Euro-Atlantic standards, reducing strategic vacuums for rival powers to exploit. This approach fits US preferences: enabling stability and alignment in Eastern Europe without requiring American dominance of every forum, while relying on local actors’ autonomy and regional integration.