LITHUANIA CALLS FOR EU TO ALLOCATE MORE FUNDS FOR COOPERATION WITH EU’S NEIGHBORING AND CENTRAL ASIAN COUNTRIES
At the informal meeting of EU development ministers on 14-15 July in Sopot, Poland, Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Evaldas Ignatavičius called for the European Union to increase the financing of cooperation with the EU’s neighboring and Central Asian countries for 2014-2020.
“The instruments of the European neighbourhood, especially of the Eastern, and of development co-operation will remain among the main means of financing the EU’s external policy in the future,” Foreign Vice-Minister said.
Vice-Minister E.Ignatavičius also called for maintaining current financing proportions for the EU’s Eastern and Southern Neighborhood.
When discussing the EU’s Strategy for assistance to Central Asia, Lithuania’s Foreign Vice-Minister agreed that the EU assistance to the countries of the region should be concentrated in three sectors and offered to support education, small and medium-sized enterprises and to expand parliamentary cooperation.
The meeting in Sopot is attended by development ministers from 27 EU member states and high-ranking representatives from the European Commission and the European External Action Service.
During the event, officials are discussing very important for Lithuania issues related to the future architecture of the EU’s financial instruments of support for development and concerning the development cooperation strategy for Central Asia.
The ministers are also discussing the issues of the EU’s general support programming, the Pacific cooperation strategy and preparation for the fourth high level forum on aid effectiveness in the South Korean city of Busan.
The meeting was organized by Poland’s current Presidency of the European Union.
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