Officials, and representatives of think tanks, civil society and NCOs from 6 EaP countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine) advocated development of reciprocal cooperation at the conference. Security and defence cooperation between the EU and EaP countries is currently progressing in a particularly dynamic manner to the benefit of both, Eastern partners and the EU. EaP countries take part in EU missions and operations, and assign capabilities for standbys for the EU Battlegroups. In its turn, the European Union helps strengthening institutional capacities of EaP countries, renders expert support to the security sector reforms, and arranges courses and training.
The Eastern Partnership countries seeking European integration put emphasis on the necessity to continue the EU enlargement as the most efficient stimulus for the EaP countries to develop and implement democratic reform. Participants of the conference also invited the EU to develop dialogue with Eastern partners on security themes, for example, in seeking solutions in the Near East and cooperation with Iran.
Representatives of civil society and NGOs pointed out the importance of EU assistance to civil societies of Eastern Partnership countries. According to them, cooperation with civil societies helps the EaP countries ensure a more fluent reform on their own.
Participants of the conference also discussed the threat coming from Russia and the need to strengthen the resilience of both, EU and EaP countries, to a range of challenges. Russia's conduct undermining the principles of international law which is the foundation of relations among states, were named as the main source of threats.
The new EU Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy which is expected to be passed in June will cover principles of cooperation with EU partners; however, the discussion highlighted the importance of the practical implementation of the new strategy.
The conference was attended by officials, and representatives of think tanks, civil society and NCOs from 6 EaP countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine), EU member states, and the European External Action Service (EEAS).
The conference was co-organised by the Ministry of National Defence and the Eastern European Studies Centre in cooperation with Poland's National Centre for Strategic Studies and the European Union Institute for Security Studies, and significant contributions from the EU.