The “Association Trio” has been created in Kyiv

On May 17, Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba, Foreign Minister of Georgia David Zalkaliani and Foreign Minister of Moldova Aureliu Chokoi signed the relevant legal document in the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv.

Kuleba was quoted as saying, “We’ve done a good thing today. We’ve signed the memorandum of understanding about organizing the “Association Trio”, the format of increased cooperation among our three states. The purpose of the format is to achieve European integration”.

According to Kuleba, the new initiative will help the three countries be more effective in their European aspirations.

The Ukrainian minister went on to say, “Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova enjoy a special status of association partners in their relations with the European Union. We’ve made our European choice having signed the Association Agreement which is meant to facilitate our efforts to become members of the European Union. Today, we’ve agreed to declare this status officially and move together toward Euro-integration”.

The format “Association Trio” covers three main objectives: first, making each foreign ministry responsible for a particular type of consultations on European integration; second, promoting joint diplomatic initiatives during talks with the European Union institutions and the EU member-countries; and, third, the coordination of strategic positions within the framework of the Eastern Partnership Format.

After the memorandum of understanding was signed in Kyiv, Dmytro Kuleba had this to say, “The format ‘Association Trio’ is our message saying that our three countries-partners see no alternative to European integration. And the same time, the European Union has no alternative either but to perceive our three countries as a serious project to ensure peace and prosperity in Europe”.

On May 17, the same day the memorandum was signed, U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken held a joint press conference with Foreign Minister of Denmark Jeppe Kofod. The State Secretary called Russia a threat to Europe. Blinken also said, “We also share concerns about the threat that Russia poses to Europe in light of the recent military buildup on the border with Ukraine, and the threat to European energy security posed by the Nord Stream 2 pipeline”.

The newspaper Voice of Ukraine