Azernews.Az

BRUSSELS – Foreign ministers of the countries participating in the Eastern Partnership, the European Union’s program aiming to boost the bloc’s cooperation with its ex-Soviet partners, will hold a meeting in Brussels on Monday, according to the EU.

The meeting, to be chaired by the EU’s foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton, was initially expected to take place in late November, but was later postponed over technical reasons.

Azerbaijan will be represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammad-Guliyev.

Mammad-Guliyev told reporters on Friday that the goal of the meeting is to analyze the work done this year within the Eastern Partnership program and outline prospective areas of further activity.

The deputy minister said the agenda also includes preparations for the EU summit to be held in Budapest next May. Hungary will chair the bloc in the first half of 2011.

The Eastern Partnership program, launched at an EU summit held in Prague in May 2009, covers Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus. The program envisages simplified visa regulations, free trade and closer energy cooperation. Membership in the bloc is not on the agenda at this point. The EU has allocated 600 million euros to implement the Eastern Partnership.