The fifth meeting of the Informal Eastern Partnership dialogue has kicked off in Minsk.

The European Union is represented by Johannes Hahn, EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Karmenu Vella, the EU Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries andAlain Le Roy, Secretary General of the European External Action Service, on behalf of High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini.

The meeting is hosted by Belarus and brings together Ministers and high level officials of the six Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine) for a sectoral meeting on environmental issues and a session on foreign policy issues.

The participants will reflect on the results of the Riga summit and discuss how to take the partnership forward across the agreed cooperation areas.  It will also be an opportunity to discuss foreign policy issues of common interest.

The informal Eastern Partnership dialogues are held twice a year and hosted in turn by the EaP partner countries since 2012.