CEI - Executive Secretariat

The CEI - Executive Secretariat (CEI-ES), the only permanent CEI body, provides continuous administrative and conceptual support to both the decision-making and operational structures of the CEI and takes appropriate initiatives aimed at promoting the realisation of the CEI objectives.

The CEI-ES was established in Trieste under the Austrian CEI Presidency in 1996 and upon an offer by the Italian Government to host its seat, with the aim to give a certain form of institutionalisation to the Initiative. First called CEI Centre for Documentation and Information (CEI CID), then renamed CEI - Executive Secretariat, the Secretariat operates with the legal status of an International Organisation. It is based on a Headquarters Agreement concluded between the Italian Government and the CEI Presidency. The Agreement entered into force on 7 November 1997. In accordance with Art. I.1. of the Headquarters Agreement, the seat of the CEI-ES in Trieste, via Genova 9, was made available to the CEI by the Italian Government through the Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia, free of charge and ties, under terms described in a Protocol concluded between the CEI-ES and the Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia.

With the establishment of the CEI-ES, the Initiative assured a permanent structure necessary for a systematic approach to wide-spread CEI activities. The overall guidance and orientation for CEI activities in general, and for the CEI-ES in particular, remains embodied in the long-term CEI strategy, reconfirmed at highest political level, and in the Plan of Action, reflecting the priority interests for cooperation among its Member States.

The tasks assigned to the Executive Secretariat and to its Secretary General are described in the CEI Guidelines and Rules of Procedure in their latest revision.