The first meeting of the Committee of National Coordinators (CNC) in the framework of the Ukrainian Presidency was held in Kyiv on 10 February. It was officially opened by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, H.E. Mr. Kostyantyn Gryshchenko.
In his welcome remarks Minister Gryshchenko outlined his country’s priorities and underlined the importance Ukraine gives to regional cooperation as a prerequisite for European integration. “The CEI as a regional forum for both political consultations and technical cooperation is a central element for speeding up the integration process and, therefore, the Presidency of the Organisation is on the top of the Agenda of the Ukrainian Government”, he said. In this context, he stressed that special attention ought to be paid to addressing the needs of non-EU CEI Member States. Transport, tourism and cross-border cooperation were singled out as areas where most efforts of the Ukrainian Government will be focused in the course of the year. The participants praised the work of the Secretary General, who presented his Annual Report 2011, recognizing the value of a number of important achievements such as the observer status in the UN General Assembly and an increased cooperation with the European Union. They also encouraged him to continue along the same lines and assured both him and the Presidency their full support and cooperation throughout the year aimed at achieving the objectives of the Organisation. In this context, the participants started with an early preparation of the MFA Meeting scheduled for 13 June in Trieste in order to guarantee the same success as last year’s event. The CNC also provided the basic guidelines for the preparation of the new Plan of Action (PoA) 2013-15, to be adopted by the CEI Summit at the end of the year. It also worked on setting the grounds for a formal approval of the CEI Civil Society Network on the occasion of the MFA Meeting. Moreover, the CNC approved 25 projects and activities with a total amount of about 185.000 EUR. Finally, the CNC welcomed Hungary as a member of the CEI Troika (composed of the previous, current and future Presidencies). Hungary will hold the CEI Presidency in 2013. The next CNC meeting will be held in Vienna on 30 March 2012. For more information: arsova@cei-es.org
From left: Ambassador A. Veselovsky, CEI National Coordinator of Ukraine, Minister K. Gryshchenko and Ambassador G. Pfanzelter