V4 and Eastern Partnership Foreign Ministers, Ashton and Füle Met in Prague

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Visegrad Group and Eastern Partnership countries met at Czernin Palace in Prague on 5 March 2012.

In addition to the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, the meeting was attended by special guests—Denmark as the current Presidency of the European Union, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, and the Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, Štefan Füle.

The meeting discussed the Visegrad Group's joint activities in Eastern Partnership countries and approved the rules for the new "Visegrad 4 Eastern Partnership" program that is to be implemented by the International Visegrad Fund.

Also on the agenda was a debate on a roadmap for the Eastern Partnership. A seminar of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, attended by representatives of non-governmental organizations and experts from the Visegrad Group and the six Eastern Partnership countries, was held on the eve of the meeting, on 2 March 2012.

The Czech Republic holds the Visegrad Group Presidency from July 2011 to the end of June 2012. The Foreign Ministers meeting on the Eastern Partnership was the second high-level meeting organized during the Czech Presidency. A similar meeting with representatives of Western Balkan countries took place in autumn 2011.

Participants:

Armenia: Edward Nalbandian

Azerbaijan: Elmar Mammadyarov

Denmark: Pia Olsen Dyhr (Minister for Trade and Investment)

Estonia: Urmas Paet

Georgia: Grigol Vashadze

Latvia: Edgars Rinkēvics

Hungary: János Martonyi

Moldova: Iurie Leanca

Poland: Radosław Sikorski

Ukraine: Kostyantyn Gryshchenko

EU: Catherine Ashton, High Representative

EU: Štefan Füle, European Commissioner

Lithuania: Evaldas Ignatavičius, Deputy Foreign Minister

Slovakia: Milan Ježovica, State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Materials:

• The Visegrad Group Foreign Ministers' Joint Statement on the V4/IVF activities towards the Eastern Partnership

• Joint Statement of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Visegrad Group, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

Links:

• Visegrad 4 Eastern Partnership Program
• International Visegrad Fund

Source: MFA Czech Republic