Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle will tomorrow (2 March) travel to Kyiv and Bratislava for political talks.

The two-day trip will focus on developments within the Eastern Partnership framework. The main objective of the Eastern Partnership is to forge closer political and economic links between the EU and the partner countries. The aim is to intensify relations across a broad spectrum, ranging from trade, energy security, home affairs and justice to science and research as well as culture. In Kyiv and Bratislava Federal Minister Westerwelle will call for an accelerated process of reform in the Eastern Partnership states and for the strengthening of civil society in these countries.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) Federal Minister Westerwelle will meet Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko as well as representatives of the opposition. He will also give a speech to students and members of civil society at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

On Thursday (3 March), Federal Minister Westerwelle will participate in a meeting of the Visegrad Group (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary) and the countries of the Eastern Partnership (Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia). The European Union will be represented by EU High Commissioner Catherine Ashton and the Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, Stefan Füle. Westerwelle will then hold talks with the Slovak Prime Minister, Iveta Radicova.