The New Europe Center and International Renaissance Foundation cordially invite to join the 4thAssociation Exchange Forum, which is an international gathering of practitioners and experts on Association Agreement implementation in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
The event will be held on October, 21-22 and will be streamlined online here (as well as at Facebook pages of the New Europe Center, International Renaissance Foundation, Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE) and partner organizations).
Day 1 (October 21): 10:15–18:00
Day 2 (October 22): 10:00–18:00
Working language: English
If you are interested in the event or would like to receive the forum materials to your email box just after the event, please register here.
The Association Exchange Forum aims to provide a platform and encourage cross-country and multi-stakeholder networking to take stock of implementation of the agreement, good practices and lessons learned, as well as discuss new ideas and explore the opportunities in the relations between European Union and Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
The 4thedition of AEF will take place in a broader context of policy thinking in various European capitals on the future of the EU, post-Brexit, EU enlargement in the Balkans and a further development of the European single market, and – last but by far not the least – the new political context in all the three partner countries and in the EU itself. Namely, the discussion panels will be devoted to the following issues:
- Association Agreement in 2021: Where are we now?
- Cooperation between EU and Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine beyond Association Agreement
- Parliamentary cooperation in implementing the EU integration agenda
- DCFTAs: still fit for purpose?
- Partial EU integration: how Trio countries could use the existing models? The cases of Turkey, Norway, the Balkans and Switzerland
- The external spoilers of EU integration: how Russia and China undermine EU integration
- Trio Strategy: what the three countries could achieve together?
The Forum participants include:
- high governmental officials from Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine responsible for coordinating the implementation of the Association Agreements between the EU and the three countries,
- leading experts and civil society activists with an expertise on Association Agreements implementation — both from the region and the EU, Brussels and member states, and other European non-members,
- members of European and national parliaments, EEAS and European Commission officials, EU Delegations in Kyiv, Tbilisi and Chisinau, relevant EU technical assistance projects, donor organisations, think tanks and academic institutions.
Among the speakers: Dmytro KULEBA, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine; Olga STEFANISHYNA, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine; Matti MAASIKAS, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine; Teimuraz JANJALIA, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia; Ihor ZHOVKVA, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Diplomatic Advisor to the President; Andrei POPOV, Head of Directorate on multilateral cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova; Cristina GHERASIMOV, Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of the Republic of Moldova; Iulian GROZA, Executive director of the Institute for European Policies and Reforms, the Republic of Moldova; Vano CHKHIKVADZE, EU Integration Program Manager at Open Society Foundation Georgia.
The program of the event is here
The Forum is organized by the International Renaissance Foundation and Kyiv based New Europe Center within the EU-funded EU4USociety project, in partnership with the Institute for European Policies and Reform (Chișinău), the EU integration program of the Open Society Georgia Foundation and co-funded by Soros Foundation Moldova.
