The regular summit of the European Union's "Eastern Partnership" program has started in the Czech capital Prague.
This summit is dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the "Eastern Partnership" summit held in Prague in 2009.
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended the summit.
The summit began with an official welcoming ceremony of the heads of state and government at Prague Castle.
A guard of honor was arranged in the square decorated with the flags of participating countries for the heads of state and government.
President of the Czech Republic Milos Zeman met President Ilham Aliyev.
The national anthem of the Republic of Azerbaijan was played.
Then the heads of states and governments posed for collective photos.
After this, the first meeting of the summit began.
The meeting was attended by President Ilham Aliyev.
In opening remarks at the summit, President of the Czech Republic Milos Zeman welcomed the heads of state and government of member-countries. He said that the "Eastern Partnership" program had covered a long road of development over the past five years and stressed that the measures taken in this direction had brought participating countries even closer to European values and criteria.
Speaking about the tasks for the future, the President of the Czech Republic expressed his confidence that the cooperation in bilateral and multilateral formats would be continued.
The European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, Stefan Fule, conveyed his congratulations on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the "Eastern Partnership" program. The Commissioner stressed that this meeting was a link between the "Eastern Partnership" summit held in Vilnius in 2013 and the next summit to be held in Riga next year.
Then the discussion began.
The "Eastern Partnership" program is regarded as one of the new projects of the European Union. The program was launched by members of the European Union, Poland and Sweden, in May 2008. The "Eastern Partnership", which covers Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Armenia, represents an initiative within the European Neighbourhood Policy aimed at improving relations with CIS states. The program envisages further rapprochement with the European Union, promotion of stability, effective governance and economic development, and is based on such common values as democracy, rule of law, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, market economy and sustainable development.
The first summit of the "Eastern Partnership" program was held in Prague in May 2009, the second was held in Warsaw in September 2011 and the third in Vilnius in November last year.
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On 24 April, President of the Czech Republic Milos Zeman hosted a dinner reception in honor of the heads of state and government visiting Prague to attend the summit marking the fifth anniversary of the adoption of the "Eastern Partnership" program.
President Ilham Aliyev attended the dinner reception.
The reception was followed by a concert.
