On October 17 the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine took part in the meeting “Ukraine + Group of Friends of Ukraine in the EU” which was held in Luxembourg with the participation of EU Commissioner for ENP & Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn as well as Foreign Ministers of the EU member states. The meeting was organized with the assistance of the Foreign Minister of Sweden Margot Wallström.

P.Klimkin informed his counterparts on the security situation in the Donbas underlying the systematic violations of the cease-fire by Russia and the Russian-backed militants.  The Minister emphasized the importance of adoption of so-called “roadmap” which should determine a sequence of steps and guarantees of the implementation of the Minsk Agreements.

The Foreign Minister of Ukraine encouraged the EU foreign ministers to continue the sanctions pressure on Russia, as the only efficient tool to involve this country into cooperation, and to maintain a policy of non-recognition of the occupation of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. A special attention should be paid to systematic violations of human rights in the peninsula and to the necessity to strengthen international community attention to this problem.

The issue of Ukraine-EU Visa Liberalization process was also discussed during the meeting. P. Klimkin emphasized the importance of completion of theinterinstitutional negotiations and procedures in the EU for the speedy abolition of visas for Ukrainian citizens.  The Minister informed the counterparts onthe latest steps which has been made by Ukraine in the context of the reforming of the Justice system and fight against corruption, in particular on the E-declaration system and the results of the newly established anti-corruption agencies activity.  The ministers have also discussed the issue of the completion of the ratification procedure of the EU-Ukraine Association agreement taking into account the results of the Dutch referendum in April.

In the framework of his visit to Luxembourg Minister P.Klimkin held bilateral meetings with EU Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy & Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Bert Koenders, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden Margot Wallström, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Jürgen Ligi, chairman of the Committee on Foreign and European Affairs of the Chamber of Deputies of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Marc Angel.