SKOPJE -- Prime ministers of Italy, Austria, Hungary and Slovakia as well as foreign and finance ministers of 17 countries, members of the Central European Initiative (CEI), will meet on Thursday in Skopje to discuss political and economic issues, the Macedonian Foreign Ministry said.

During the two-day summit, they were expected to adopt the annual report on the political and security situation in the region, the ministry said.

The officials will also discuss the latest developments linked to the upcoming enlargement of the European Union and NATO.

Of the 17 states represented in the initiative, only two -- Italy and Austria -- are members of the European Union, with seven candidates for membership.

Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, and the prime ministers of Italy, Hungary and Slovakia -- Silvio Berlusconi, Peter Medgyessy and Mikulas Dzurinda -- have so far confirmed their participation at the summit.

Some 2,000 delegates who will take part in the summit will examine numerous topics linked to economic cooperation, notably trade and development in the investments field, the Foreign Ministry said.

The Interior Ministry said security measures were taken in the capital, especially near the hotels where the delegates would be accommodated, while the traffic would be restricted in the center of Skopje.

CEI economy ministers will also meet at the summit, together with high-ranking representatives of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, to discuss possible joint economic projects, investments and development.

The Central European initiative was founded in 1989 by Austria, Hungary, Italy and the former Yugoslavia, in a bid to promote regional political, social and economic cooperation.

The end of the Cold War brought a flood of new members from the former communist states of central and Eastern Europe, many of which are frontrunners to join an expanded EU in the next few years.

Yugoslavia, suspended in 1992 due to its role in a series of wars that have torn apart the ex-communist federation, was readmitted to the CEI two years ago, following the ouster of former strongman Slobodan Milosevic.

Nowadays, the CEI groups Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Yugoslavia -- representing some 240 million people.

The last meeting of the CEI members was held in Italy last year.