2019 is special for our Union's relations with our eastern neighbours: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, Swedish Foreign Ministers Margot Wallstrom, minister of foreign affairs of Poland, Jacek Czaputowicz, minister of foreign affairs of the Czech Republic, Tomas Petricek wrote in their article, EU Observer reported.

This year we are celebrating ten years of a real and living partnership – the Eastern Partnership (EaP).

Many did not believe that this partnership would make a change in the region, but we recall the first years of the EaP with the thrill everyone felt – this belief that we are building something new and transformational.

Over the years, this partnership has gone through its share of difficulties. And still, it has not only endured - it has developed, matured and delivered beyond what we foresaw at that time.

The Eastern Partnership remains the sole comprehensive approach by the entire EU towards its eastern neighbours. Its goals and priorities are widely accepted and recognised.

It is part of a larger European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and represents an umbrella allowing partners to deepen their relations with the EU and discuss matters of common importance.

Today, we are confident to say that this unique partnership is one of EU's most successful foreign policy initiatives.

It is a relationship firmly based on our common values, human rights, rule of law, democracy and good governance, and on the central principle of every country's right to choose its own future – which the EU and her member states have unanimously and consistently defended throughout these ten years.

Political transformation is not yet beyond the point of no return and there is much to be done still.

Most citizens of EaP countries, though, share European values and a European identity, which motivate them in their efforts toward this goal.

Through the Eastern Partnership, the European Union and her eastern partners have been investing into development, security and stability in the East of Europe.