Latvian FM: Riga Summit will support Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine

The upcoming Eastern Partnership (EaP) Summit in Riga aims to support Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, says the Foreign Minister of Latvia, the country currently holding the presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU).

Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics talked about the Summit’s goals after yesterday’s meeting of the Visegrad Four (V4) and EaP foreign ministers in Bratislava, Slovakia.

V4 is an alliance by four central European states - the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, while the EaP countries are Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine.

The meeting dedicated to the EaP Summit preparation was also attended by Latvian, Romanian and Swedish Foreign Ministers as well as the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and the EU Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn.

"We all share the opinion that the Summit should reconfirm the EaP’s mission to deepen the EU’s relations with its Eastern partners,” the Latvian Foreign Minister said.

"In particular, this Summit aims to support reforms in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, the states who signed the Association Agreement with the EU,” Rinkevics added.

He also said the EaP was not "directed against anyone”, but it was the means of relations between the EU and its partners in a number of fields.

Meanwhile Mogherini said the Riga Summit had "negative” and "positive” backgrounds. She named "worsening security issues in the region” as a negative factor, but said "intensifying relations” with each EaP state was the "positive side”.

"This Summit is a good opportunity to plan our future partnership to benefit ordinary citizens in these countries,” she said.