"Ukrainian-Lithuanian-Swedish partnership has a great potential" – it was the slogan of the meeting of Foreign Ministers of Ukraine, Lithuania and Sweden that took place on November, 17 in Kyiv.

The practical manifestation of such partnership was the signing of the Joint Memorandum of Understanding between the Swedish Institute and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania by the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Lithuania and Sweden, that envisages Stockholm and Vilnius to set up training and educational programmes for teachers and students from the Eastern regions of Ukraine.

During the talks Ministers Pavlo Klimkin, Margot Wallström and Linas Linkevicius stressed the importance of full implementation of the Minsk agreements and called for keeping sanctions against Russia on place till the restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, including restoring control over all areas of the Ukrainian-Russian state border.

Discussing the internal developments in Ukraine, Swedish and Lithuanian Ministers assessed positively the implementation of reforms and confirmed their readiness to provide practical assistance to Ukraine in this regard. Sweden and Lithuania also expressed their support for Ukraine in implementation of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement that is considered as the main tool bringing Ukraine closer to the EU.

The Ministers stressed that the establishment of the free trade area between Ukraine and the EU as of 1 January 2016 will contribute to deepening mutually beneficial trade and economic relations of Ukraine with the EU Member States.