The EU officials who gathered on Monday at the Eastern Partnership ministerial meeting in Brussels praised the Republic of Moldova for being in the vanguard of the Eastern Partnership. According to a press release from the Moldovan MFA, the EU officials saluted Moldova’s significant progress toward reform since it embarked on the cooperation platform of the Eastern Partnership. The EU foreign ministers reiterated their support to the aspirations of the Eastern Partnership countries to obtain easier travel requirements for students, researchers and businessmen across the EU, liberalized visa regimes and broader free trade arrangements. The Moldovan delegation was headed by Foreign Affairs Minister Iurie Leanca, who had meeting with top EU officials, including Stefan Fule, European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy; Catherine Ashton, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy; Helga Schmid, Deputy Secretary-General of the European External Action Service; as well as with the foreign ministers of the Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden, Estonia and Romania. Launched in May 2009, the Eastern Partnership aims to strengthen and deepen the EU’s relations with its six partner countries to the east, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine in areas such as political association, free trade, migration, energy etc.