On Wednesday, January 27th, Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski delivered the opening address at the Madrid seminar “Future of the Eastern Partnership: Challenges and Opportunities”. Minister Sikorski’s speech was followed by a meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Republic of Poland, the Kingdom of Spain and the Czech Republic.

The Madrid seminar, organized jointly by the Spanish Presidency, Poland and the Czech Republic, reviewed the state of implementation of the Eastern Partnership in its bi- and multi-lateral dimensions, as well as examined the challenges ahead. The participants also appraised the Eastern Partnership’s development perspectives and discussed ways of its further consolidation, also through deeper involvement of international financial actors, private sector institutions and NGOs.

The seminar was attended by the representatives of: the EU Member States, the six Partner States (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine), the EU institutions, international financial institutions (the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, the World Bank) and European think tanks.