At the Eastern Partnership summit to be held on June 18 in a video conference format, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address the issue of coordination of efforts in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the prospects of Ukraine's membership in the European Union. This was stated by Deputy Head of the Office of the President Ihor Zhovkva in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
Ihor Zhovkva noted that the Eastern Partnership summit was planned to be held on June 18 in Brussels, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, it will be held by video conference. The event is expected to be attended not only by the leadership of the European Union and the six member states of the Eastern Partnership, but also by the leaders of the 27 EU member states.
"Ukraine is a traditional participant in the Eastern Partnership. The participant who always strives for greater dynamics in the Eastern Partnership. We say that we are the most ambitious country - member of the Eastern Partnership. That is why we want the event to be held not for the sake of holding, but to achieve concrete results," the Deputy Head of the President's Office emphasized.
According to him, one of the most important topics that Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address during his speech will be the issue of coordinating the efforts of EU members and "Eastern partners" in responding to the pandemic.
"As you know, Ukraine has provided both humanitarian aid to certain EU members and its transport planes to deliver such aid to other EU countries. We had positive examples of EU assistance to our country during the pandemic: € 190 million in humanitarian aid plus € 1.2 billion in macro-financial assistance. We have to institutionalize all this, understanding that such pandemics, unfortunately, can happen again," Ihor Zhovkva stressed.
Strategic issues also remain on the agenda of the dialogue between Ukraine and the European Union: the prospect of membership for Ukraine, the prospect of expanding access of Ukrainian goods to EU markets and, of course, support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Ukrainian state.
"The President will speak about that during his speech at the Eastern Partnership video conference," the Deputy Head of the Office of the President noted.