On 17 November, a coordination meeting was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine between representatives of the Foreign Ministries of Ukraine and Belgium.

The Ukrainian delegation was headed by Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Mariana Betsa, while the Belgian side was led by Christophe De Nijs, Director-General for European Affairs of the Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Kingdom of Belgium, and Jan De Pauw, Special Envoy for Ukraine.

Mariana Betsa expressed gratitude to Belgium for its unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders amid Russia’s ongoing aggression, as well as for Belgium’s multidimensional regular assistance to Ukraine.

The parties held a substantive discussion on key issues of Ukrainian-Belgian relations and the multilateral agenda, noting the active political dialogue at the highest and high levels.

Special attention was devoted to Ukraine’s European integration track, including the issue of opening the First Negotiating Cluster and further progress on Ukraine’s path to the EU.

The delegations placed particular emphasis on coordinating positions regarding mechanisms for the use of immobilized Russian assets and on continuing assistance to Ukraine in the military, energy, financial, and humanitarian spheres.

The Belgian side reaffirmed its determination to continue providing multidimensional annual assistance to Ukraine aimed at strengthening its defence capabilities in the amount of €1 billion, to remain actively involved in the Coalition of the Willing on Security Guarantees for Ukraine, and to further increase its participation in humanitarian demining efforts across Ukrainian territories.

Discussing issues of restoring justice, the Belgian diplomats reiterated their readiness to continue active work on establishing a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine and the International Compensation Mechanism.

During the meeting, the delegations also discussed approaches to engagement with African countries and opportunities for expanding Ukrainian-African cooperation with the support of Belgian diplomacy.