On October 4 and 5, Chisinau is hosting the fifth General Assembly of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum “Together for a European Future”. The president of the Anticorruption Alliance, coordinator of the event Lilia Carashchuk, has told IPN that this forum is very important, especially because it is held before the Vilnius Summit.

“For the first time this forum takes place on the territory of a country that forms part of the Eastern Partnership. The statements that will be made will be very important for Moldova. We are coming closer to the Vilnius Summit and will see the EU’s plans concerning Moldova,” said Lilia Carashchuk.

The forum is held at the Palace of the Republic, starting at 9.00. The event will be opened by EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Štefan Füle and Deputy Prime Minister Natalia Gherman. The forum will involve Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius, Georgian Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze, co-president of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly Borys Tarasyuk and co-president of the Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum Krzysztof Bobiński.

Earlier, Štefan Füle said the EU supports the idea of developing the Eastern Partnership and makes effort for the coming Vilnius Eastern Partnership Summit to be a major accomplishment. The process of political association and economic integration of the partner countries with the EU necessitates the involvement and more intense support of civil society. Thus, the EU encourages the governments of the partner countries to continue and to develop the cooperation and structured dialogue with civil society.