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A new impetus to the relations between the EU and its neighbours in the East

Lithuania will remain an active participant of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership initiative and will make every effort to ensure its successful implementation, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis said at the Eastern Partnership Foreign Ministers’ Informal Meeting on 24 May in Sopot, Poland.

The Minister also stressed that the initiative provided a new impetus to the relations between the EU and its neighbours in the East. According to the Minister, it was necessary to move towards the implementation of specific partnership projects more promptly.

The meeting on the implementation of the EU’s Eastern Partnership initiative was held at the initiative of Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski and Foreign Minister of the current Spanish EU Presidency Miguel Ángel Moratinos.

Discussions on the future of the Eastern Partnership were attended by many foreign ministers and other high-ranking officials from the EU member states, also by European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle, foreign ministers and vice-ministers from the six countries of the initiative: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

A trilateral meeting of the Lithuanian, Belarusian and Ukrainian foreign ministers was held in Sopot. During the meeting, Ministers A.Ažubalis, Sergei Martynov and Kostyantyn Gryshchenko briefly discussed the Eastern Partnership cooperation in the areas of transport, energy and cultural heritage, they also agreed on specific forms of cooperation.
 

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The next trilateral meeting of the Lithuanian, Ukrainian and Belarusian foreign ministers is scheduled for September in Minsk.

The EU’s Eastern Partnership is the first initiative of the European Union’s external relations with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The initiative is designed to promote and help the neighbouring countries in implementing reforms, thus intensifying their relations and possible approximation to the EU.
 
 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania

 
 
26.05.2010