"Gymnich" will finally pay attention to Afghanistan and Pakistan
Adelina Marini, September 4, 2009
The EU foreign ministers gather today in Stockholm for their regular "Gyminch" informal meeting which, the host - the Swedish presidency" has planned to hold on the Museum of modern art and the Museum of Architecture on the island of Skeppsholmen in the centre of the Swedish capital. This type of informal meetings is being held twice a year with the main aim all the 27 EU foreign ministers to be able to share in a more friendly atmosphere what the main considerations of their governments are on matters, related to the foreign policy of the EU.
And today the main issue will be the Middle East. The EU’s High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana, who has traveled in the region, will report from his meetings. Then the EU foreign ministers will discuss how the Eu could support the peace process in the region.
On Saturday, the main issue of the discussions will be Afghanistan and Pakistan. So far the ministers were almost unable to get deeper into this topic because they were busy with other matters of much forthcoming interest: the enlargement of the Western Balkans, the financial crisis, the relations with Russia and the Caucasus countries. It is expected the Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt also to report the results of his visit to Afghanistan.
The new Bulgarian foreign minister Ms. Rumyana Zheleva will participate in the meeting for the first time.
Bakir Izetbegovic, Andrej Plenkovic | © Council of the EU
Aleksandar Vucic, Recep Tayyip Erdogan | © Serbian Presidency
Jean-Claude Juncker, Zoran Zaev | © European Commission