Eastern Partnership Civil society conference in Riga to feature high-level politicians and well-known experts

On 20-21 May, the European Union's Eastern Partnership (EaP) Civil Society Conference will be held in Riga and attended by several hundreds of civil society representatives and experts from EU Member States and EaP countries. High-level politicians and well-known experts from Latvia and other EU Member States as well as EaP countries will hold speeches at the event.

The Conference will be opened by Laimdota Straujuma, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia. Other keynote speakers will include Edgars Rinkēviās, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia; Johannes Hahn, European Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations; Tamar Beruchashvili, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia; Sandra Kalniete, Member of European Parliament; Oleh Rybachuk, Former Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine; Ales Bialiatski, the Chairman of the Belarusian Human Rights Centre “Vyasna  and Vice President of the International Federation for Human Rights of Belarus; Ian Bond, the Director of Foreign Policy at Centre for European Reform; Jeff Lovitt, the Director of the Policy Association for an Open Society, and many others.

The goal of the Conference is to strengthen civil society and involve it in the planning and implementation of the Eastern Partnership policy. Civil Society Conference simultaneously with the Eastern Partnership Summit discuss issues closely related to those discussed at the Eastern Partnership summit. The Conference provides a platform for representatives of civil society, non-governmental organisations and think tanks to debate Eastern Partnership issues.

“The Civil Society Conference, along with the Eastern Partnership Summit, provides possibility to improve the EU Neighbourhood Policy, reducing its bureaucracy and strengthening the flexible and strategic approach. By organizing this Conference, Latvia underlines the great significance of civil society in implementation of the principles of democracy, rule of law and good governance in the Eastern Partnership countries. Achievements of Latvia in the process of creating the civil society are noteworthy, and they will be useful for the six Eastern Partnership countries in their exchange of experience,  said Andis Kudors, Executive Director of the Centre for East European Policy Studies.

The topics to be discussed at the Conference include past achievements and current challenges facing the EU Eastern Partnership policy from a civil society perspective, possibilities for the EaP and the role of civil society in the process of strengthening regional security, possible support mechanisms for strengthening civil society, including cross-border cooperation possibilities, and future topical issues of Eastern Partnership policy. Recommendations on more effective way to achieve the goals of Eastern Partnership will be presented to EU institutions as well as EU and Eastern Partnership member states.

The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Conference in Riga is organised in collaboration between the following hosts: the Latvian Institute of International Affairs, the Centre for East European Policy Studies and the Latvian Transatlantic Organisation (LATO), with the participation of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum. The conference is supported by the European Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia, the Secretariat of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Black Sea Trust, a Project of the German Marshall Fund of the US and the National Endowment for Democracy.

Follow the live streaming of the Conference on the website of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union: www.eu2015.lv.