Azerbaijan, Baku, March 2 /Trend, S.Agayeva/
Deputy Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Mahmud Mammadguliyev will represent the country at an extended meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Visegrad Four V4 (Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia) with the representatives of member countries of the European Eastern Partnership, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's spokesman Elkhan Polukhov told Trend.
The foreign ministers of V4 and the Eastern Partnership will also be attending GLOBSEC 2011 Bratislava Global Security Forum to be opened in Bratislava on Wednesday, the TASR Slovak news agency reported earlier.
The V4 summit in Bratislava will also be attended by the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, the European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule, and Vice Chancellor of Germany, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.
At the meeting, Slovakia will be represented by Foreign Minister Mikulas Dzurinda, Czech Republic - Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, Hungary - Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi, Poland - Secretary of Foreign Ministry Nicholas Dovgelevich.
According to TASR, the foreign ministers of Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, as well as deputy foreign minister of Belarus will also arrive in Bratislava.
The Eastern Partnership Program is a Polish-Swedish initiative under the EU Neighborhood Policy aimed at improving EU relations with six former Soviet countries Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine and Armenia. The program envisages the allocation of 600 million euro to these countries until 2013 to strengthen state institutions, control borders and help small companies.
The program does not envisage opportunities for EU membership, but instead envisages facilitating the visa regime, energy cooperation, and the introduction of free trade zones. Small projects on student exchange, environmental protection, and energy supply will also be implemented.