Prime Minister Pavel Filip is paying a working visit to Brussels during May 13-14. There, he will take part in the events that will be held to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) and will deliver a speech at the High-Level Conference centering on the anniversary, IPN reports, quoting the Government’s press service.

Pavel Filip will take part in the celebratory dinner given by the President of the European Council Donald Tusk for the six Heads of State or Government of the EaP countries and will have a series of bilateral meetings with high-level European officials, Heads of State and Government.

According to the European Commission, to mark the 10th anniversary of the Eastern Partnership, a series of high-level gatherings will take place on May 13 and 14, 2019 in Brussels with the participation of the six Eastern partner countries, EU Member States and other stakeholders.

On May 13, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission Federica Mogherini will chair the annual Eastern Partnership Foreign Affairs Ministerial Meeting with the 28 EU Member States, the EU’s six Eastern partners and the Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn. The meeting will take stock of the progress made under the ambitious 20 Deliverables for 2020 work plan adopted at the last Eastern Partnership Summit of November 2017.

In the evening of May 13, the President of the European Council Donald Tusk will host a celebratory dinner for the six Heads of State or Government of the Eastern partner countries - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. In parallel, an anniversary concert entitled “We create together – celebration of ten years of EaP by image and music” will be given at the Center for Fine Arts BOZAR in Brussels. This will feature artists from the six EaPn countries.

On May 14, the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker will host a High-Level Conference in the European Commission’s Charlemagne building. The event will involve Heads of State or Government of the partner countries, foreign affairs ministers of the EU Member States, representatives of civil society, leaders of the business community, young people and journalists from 34  countries. The participants will discuss the way in which the partnership developed during the past ten years and its future.

The Eastern Partnership is a joint policy initiative which aims to deepen and strengthen relations between the European Union (EU), its Member States and its six Eastern neighbors: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. At the same time, each of the Eastern partners has the freedom to decide the level of cooperation with the EU. This way, Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine chose a maximal level of rapprochement by signing Association Agreements and meeting all the conditions for having the visa regimes liberalized.