EU seeks new opportunities to help Eastern Partnership countries to develop
The European Commission and the European External Action Service have developed a joint working document "Eastern Partnership – focusing on key priorities and deliverables."
The Eastern Partnership (EaP) is a joint policy initiative between the European Union and its six Eastern neighbours: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The last EaP Foreign Affairs Ministerial in May 2016 confirmed the shared view by both EU Member States and EaP Partner countries that the EaP needs to focus on delivering tangible results to citizens.
Since then, the European Commission and the European External Action Service have developed a joint working document "Eastern Partnership – focusing on key priorities and deliverables". The document aims to identify 20 key deliverables for 2020, intended to contribute to the joint work of EU Member States and EaP Partner countries and step up actions in four key priority areas:
-- economic development and market opportunities;
-- strengthening institutions and good governance;
-- connectivity, energy efficiency, environment and climate change;
-- mobility and people-to-people contacts.
This will be important in view of the Brussels Summit in 2017 and beyond.