Ukraine will ensure the effective activity of the Central European Initiative in 2012 during its presidency in the organization, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Kostyantyn Gryshchenko told a meeting of Central European Initiative (CEI) Foreign Ministers in Italy’s Trieste on June 10.

According to Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs Franco Frattini, the CEI and its members, which are members of the EU, will exert every effort with a view of successful realization of the European perspective of the CEI countries eager to join the EU.

K.Gryshchenko in his speech stressed on the importance to step up the exchange of experience among CEI members in the sphere of European integration, implementation of multilateral projects aimed at integrating the CEI member-countries into the EU. In that connection, it was underlined during the meeting that the formalization of cooperation between the CEI and the EU would allow to introduce a new mechanism of approaching CEI countries with the EU in different domains.

The Minister also briefed the participants about the process of negotiations with the EU on an Association Agreement, including a deep and comprehensive free trade area. He underscored the priority significance for Ukraine of the completion of the talks by the end of 2011.

In view of the Ukrainian presidency of the Central European Initiative in 2012 the Minister noted that Ukraine means to exert the priority efforts to further develop the regional cooperation within the framework of the Initiative on the European integration direction, enhance the economic cooperation of the member-states and raise the efficacy of the energy cooperation.

Within the framework of the CEI session the Ukrainian Foreign Minister held a series of bilateral meetings with his opposite numbers dealing with priority issues of cooperation on the bilateral level and in the context of realization of Ukraine’s European integration drive.