The CEI was under the chairmanship of Hungary in 2000, with the Czech Republic and Italy as members of the Troika. The primary aim of the CEI, apart from promoting political cooperation, is to support the less developed member states in their endeavours to reach European standards in order to assure their participation in the integration process and prevent the emergence of new divisions in Europe. With the admission of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in November the membership is now 17 Central, Eastern and South-Eastern European countries. Its executive secretariat in Trieste is headed by Paul Hartig of Austria.

The CEI foreign ministers, at their meeting in Szeged on 24 June, and the CEI summit on 24/25 November, in addition to dealing with current political issues, above all in the Balkan region, decided to step up the economic components of regional and local cross-border cooperation, including training courses for the economically weaker members. Other areas of cooperation included biotechnology, renewable energy sources, the environment, and information technologies. The CEI Summit Economic Forum 2000 also dealt with investment promotion and cross-border cooperation. The summit approved membership for Yugoslavia, and enhanced cooperation with the Stability Pact as well as with the European Union in matters of regional significance. The CEI presidents of parliament, heads of cultural departments and political directors from CEI foreign ministries all met during the year, and the national coordinators for the CEI held eight meetings.

The current CEI projects in Albania, Macedonia, Belarus, Ukraine and Bosnia and Herzegovina continued through a special trust fund at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and new projects were started in Romania and elsewhere in South-Eastern Europe. Finance was provided for training courses, conferences and other events. Projects for small enterprises in Albania and Croatia and the modernisation of the Romanian railways were begun. Support was provided for the founding of a trust to promote markets for agricultural products in the CEI area.

The heads of government of Austria, Hungary and Slovakia met on 10 November in Bojnice (Slovakia) for their fifth Trilateral Summit. The themes were the development of European and transatlantic integration as well as economic relations between the three states. It was proposed that a Euroregion be established in the zone Vienna-Bratislava-Györ in order to stimulate cooperation in this economic region. Cooperation on internal security had been successful and had been extended to Poland, the Czech Republic and other neighbouring states. A new working group to combat trafficking in human beings is to commence its activities under Austrian leadership, and a working group on youth and sport is to be set up. A comprehensive Hungarian study on a joint cross-border development strategy is being evaluated by Austria and Slovakia.