Prague hosts Eastern Partnership summit

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The summit will be attended by European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule, the presidents of the Czech Republic, Austria, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia will be present at the summit. The attendees of the talks will discuss prospects for cooperation and the situation in Ukraine. Czech President Milos Zeman expressed readiness to support Georgia and Moldova on their way to joining the EU and encouraged cooperation with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus.

Rasim Musabekov, an Azerbaijani political analyst and member of parliament, called the Eastern Partnership an aspect of Azerbaijan’s cooperation with the EU that started with the signing of a partnership and cooperation agreement in 1996. Azerbaijan joined the European Neighbourhood Policy in 2004. The analyst noted that Azerbaijan had received great technical support, adapted its legislation according to European standards, switched to a visa-free regime and harmonized with the Bologna System.

Petre Mamradze, head of the Institute for Strategic Management, denies that the Eastern Partnership has ever helped Georgia. He believes that initialing of the association and free trade agreement had no practical use and would only add risks of losing access to the Russian market. The expert said that Georgia had come closer to the Russian market and gained no benefits from cooperating with Europe. Trade with Russia, in his words, had increased by 30% in two months.

Alexey Poltorakov, a political analyst, emphasized that Kiev overestimated the new partnership program of the EU. He noted that the program had no points about EU membership. The analyst believes that the Eastern Partnership only improved the image of Ukraine and had insufficient macroeconomic effect. He said that there were applied projects for transportation and customs. The only benefit of the Eastern Partnership, in his view, was a prospect for cooperation with Europe.

Presidents Ilham Aliyev (Azerbaijan), Serzh Sargsyan (Armenia), Georgy Margvelashvili (Georgia), Nicolae Timofti (Moldova), acting Foreign Minister Andrey Deshitsa (Ukraine) are attending the Eastern Partnership hosted by Prague today. Belarus is skipping the summit. President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, EU Chief Diplomat Catherine Ashton, authorities of Germany, France, UK and Italy are not attending the talks.The summit will be attended by European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule, presidents of Czech Republic, Austria, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia will be present at the summit. The attendees of the talks will discuss prospects for cooperation and the situation in Ukraine. Czech President Milos Zeman expressed readiness to support Georgia and Moldova on their way to joining the EU and encouraged cooperation with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus.Rasim Musabekov, an Azerbaijani political analyst and member of parliament, called the Eastern Partnership an aspect of Azerbaijan’s cooperation with the EU started with signing of a partnership and cooperation agreement in 1996. Azerbaijan joined the European Neighbourhood Policy in 2004. The analyst noted that Azerbaijan had received great technical support, adapted legislature according to European standards, switched to a visa-free regime, harmonized with the Bologna System.Petre Mamradze, head of the Institute for Strategic Management, denies that the Eastern Partnership has ever helped Georgia. He believes that initialing of the association and free trade agreement had no practical use and would only add risks of losing access to the Russian market. The expert said that Russia had come closer to the Russian market and gained no benefits from cooperating with Europe. Trade with Russia, in his words, had increased by 30% in two months.Alexey Poltorakov, a political analyst, emphasized that Kiev overestimated the new partnership program of the EU. He noted that the program had no points on EU membership. The analyst believes that the Eastern Partnership only improved the image of Ukraine and had insufficient macroeconomic effect. He said that there were applied projects for transportation and customs. The only benefit of the Eastern Partnership, in his view, was prospect for cooperation with Europ