Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 11
By Anakhanum Hidayatova – Trend:
The EU’s Eastern Partnership initiative is and will remain a priority, Johannes Hahn, commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, said in a statement posted on the European Commission website.
“The success of the Eastern Partnership is based on our shared values,” Hahn said. “Our partnership aims to deliver tangible and visible results for our citizens.”
He added that he is looking forward to participating in the forthcoming Ministerial Meeting on Eastern Partnership, organized by the Visegrad Group.
The meeting, to be held Apr. 12 in Warsaw, Poland, will bring together Hahn, ministers of foreign affairs from the EU and from Eastern Partnership countries.
“In the last year, we have been advancing in priority areas – economic development, strengthening institutions and good governance, mobility and people-to-people contacts, and notably connectivity, but still more needs to be done,” said Johannes Hahn.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov will also take part in the Warsaw meeting.
The Eastern Partnership is an initiative of the EU governing its relationship with the post-Soviet states – Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine – intended to provide an avenue for discussions of trade, economic strategy, travel agreements, and other issues between the EU and its Eastern European neighbors.
The Visegrad Group was established in February 1991. Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia were the members of the Group. After Czechoslovakia’s dissolution, the Group started to be referred to as the Visegrad Four.