On 10 September 2015, Luxembourg Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Jean Asselborn, was received by his Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin and Ukrainian President Petro Porochenko in Kiev, where he was due to attend the 12th annual 'Yalta European Strategy' (YES) conference.
After discussing the bilateral relations of the Grand Duchy and Ukraine, talks between the Minister and the Ukrainian authorities then focused on the key points and priorities of the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the EU, specifically with regards to the migration crisis that Europe is currently facing which Minister Asselborn had just seen first-hand after having returned from visiting a Serbian refugee camp the previous day.
In this context, the politicians exchanged views on ways in which to address the challenges posed by the current situation, in preparation for the extraordinary Justice and Home Affairs Council that has been planned for 14 September 2015.
The focus then moved to Ukraine's relations with the EU, addressing the latest political developments in the country and the situations in the East and in Crimea.
Minister Asselborn stated that the EU had engaged in efforts to help Ukraine politically, financially and within a humanitarian context, making reference to Luxembourg's support of the Normandy Format, a diplomatic group comprised of senior representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France, and its support of the endeavours of the latter two to resolve the situation in the East of Ukraine.
Jean Asselborn emphasised that the crisis should not prevent Ukraine from continuing on the path of reform and modernisation, congratulating the President for having continuously pursued constitutional reform despite the inherent difficulties of such an action. The two men political figures agreed on the importance of holding regional elections in October in full accordance of the Minsk agreement and the Ukrainian law 'On temporary Order of Local Self-Governance in Particular Districts of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts'.
Minister Asselborn was also in Kiev to participate in the 12th annual 'Yalta European Strategy' conference, which assembles European, Ukrainian, US and Russian Federation leaders and representatives to engage in open discussion of the challenges and opportunities faced by Ukraine.
Alongaide former NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen and former Foreign Minister of Poland, Radek Sikorski, the Minister intervened in the round table entitled 'Time to Deliver: What Europe Expects from Ukraine and Vice Versa'.
Photo by Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (L-R: President of Ukraine Petro Porochenko ; Luxembourg Minister for Foreign and European Affairs Jean Asselborn)
