“We can say that the Eastern Partnership is a successful programme. We are now at a moment when we should chart a direction for the future and define what the programme should be like for the next ten years to come,” Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said at a conference convened to discuss the Eastern Partnership’s (EP) achievements and challenges.

Prospects for EU enlargement to bring in Western Balkan countries, regional cooperation, security, and building democratic institutions in the region are the major topics of a meeting of think-tanks in Skopje.

On 13-14 May, Poland’s top diplomat will take part in the Foreign Affairs Council and in a ministerial meeting and a high level conference held to mark the 10th anniversary of the Eastern Partnership.

“Our cooperation draws on the presence of a strong community of Polish descent living in Brazil, who were settling here beginning with the 19th century. In Brazil, they found their second homeland, but today they also maintain links with Poland,” Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said after his meeting with Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo of Brazil.

The MFA condemns the detention of Edgar Zambrano, the Vice-President of the National Assembly of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, by the Venezuelan security apparatus (SEBIN).

Poland was elected by acclamation to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs for the 2020-2023 term at a meeting of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in New York on 7 May.

“Warsaw and Oslo are close partners. We share many goals, specifically as regards economic cooperation and security policy: NATO, the Baltic Sea region, the Eastern policy,” the Polish foreign minister said at a joint press conference with his Norwegian counterpart.

“As one of the Eastern Partnership’s co-founders, Poland is at the same time one of the initiators of a process of reflecting on its future after 2020,” said the chief of Polish diplomacy at a meeting held in Bratislava.

The aim of the Eastern Partnership launched a decade ago was to bring partner countries closer to the European Union in terms of, among others, values. However, the programme fostered exchanges between neighbours in many aspects, such as economy, politics and culture. The 10th anniversary of the Eastern Partnership celebrated this year is a good opportunity to sum up the achievements of the EU Eastern policy in recent years.