During a visit to Mystetskyi Arsenal, President’s wife Olena Zelenska had a meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany to Ukraine Anka Feldhusen.
Olena Zelenska and Anka Feldhusen discussed possible options of cooperation between Ukraine and Germany in the development of an inclusive and barrier free environment envisaged by the Biarritz Partnership. Ukraine announced its intention to join the Partnership launched by the G7 countries in December last year.
The German Ambassador noted the importance of the Biarritz Partnership goal and praised Ukraine's decision to join the international partnership for the sake of equal opportunities for all. Anka Feldhusen stressed that Germany was ready to support Ukraine on the path to achieving that important goal. She also noted projects on combating domestic and gender-based violence already implemented in the country.
One of the remarks by German colleagues concerned Ukraine's ratification of the Istanbul Convention - the Council of Europe's international agreement on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. Ukraine signed the Istanbul Convention back in 2011, but has not ratified it yet.
The First Lady and the German Ambassador to Ukraine agreed to identify formats of cooperation that would be most effective in implementing the principles of a universal and comfortable environment throughout the country in the near future.