On 13 December 2010 in Brussels Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Kostyantyn Gryshchenko took part in the meeting of foreign ministers of EU member states and partner countries of the Eastern Partnership initiative.

In his speech the Minister emphasized that a considerable progress recently achieved in the relations of Ukraine with the EU was a result of systematic reforms in key areas of the national development and is a demonstration of the commitment of the Ukrainian leadership to the European integration course.

K.Gryshchenko noted the importance of further ambitious development of the Eastern Partnership that would increase attractiveness of the Initiative for all partner countries. He stressed that it was important to increase financial resources allocated by the EU for the Eastern Partnership in order that the Initiative become an effective instrument for support of internal reforms in the partner countries, including Ukraine.

Assessing the progress achieved in the implementation of the Eastern Partnership, the participants of the discussion noted the leading role of Ukraine in the process: in particular, in the context of negotiations on the Association Agreement, visa liberalization process and deepening of the energy integration with the EU.

This forum was held in the framework of regular political dialogue as established by the Joint Statement of the Prague Summit of the Eastern Partnership of 7 May 2009, and was dedicated to the analysis of the state of play in the implementation of the Initiative and to preparations of the next Eastern Partnership summit to be held in Budapest in May 2011.