Minister Kristian Vigenin to participate in the Informal “Gymnich” Meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers
04 April 2014 - 05 April 2014 Diplomatic CalendarMinister Kristian Vigenin will participate in the informal meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers - also known as "Gymnich". The meeting will take place on 4-5 April in Athens within the framework of the Greek Presidency of the EU.
The discussions will be devoted to the recent developments in the neighborhood and the impact on the European Neighbourhood Policy, as well as the strategic implications for the EU foreign policy. It is expected that the main focus will be on the events in Ukraine and the Eastern Partnership as a whole. Syria and the developments in the Southern neighborhood will be discussed as well. On the agenda of the meeting is also the topic of the relations with the EU strategic partners - the U.S., China, and prospects for developments in EU-Russia relations.
On 5 April there will be a workshop where the foreign ministers of the candidate countries - Turkey, Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia, are invited.
The meetings will be chaired by HR Catherine Ashton. It is expected that among the participants in the different panels will be Elmar Brok, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the EP, Štefan Füle, Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, and Kristalina Georgieva, Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response