The conference was attended by Lithuanian Minister of Education and Science Dainius Pavalkis, as well as the chief research policy makers of the Eastern Partnership countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. EEP2013 brought together the main stakeholders, including the European Commission, national policy making bodies, policy makers, the wider research community and others interested in the international dimension of EU policies and cooperation with Eastern Partnership countries on RDI.
Lithuanian Minister of Education and Science Dainius Pavalkis said: "It is more than obvious that nowadays countries must mobilize and pool together their greatest minds and resources to tackle societal challenges, and for this purpose all kinds of cooperation in research and innovation area, especially on regional basis, are welcome."
According to Minister Pavalkis, closer contacts between researchers and research institutions and organisations from Eastern Partnership countries and European Union need to be established and strengthened.
The conference in Lithuania discussed issues related to current EU policies on RDI and the Eastern Partnership dimension and the future EU research framework programme, Horizon 2020, as well as sharing best practices among different Member States and Eastern Partnership countries.
The conference adopted a Declaration which provides suggestions for improvements on international research relations and further possible steps within the context of the Eastern Partnership. The declaration emphasizes that research and innovation should be considered as a key priority within the Eastern Partnership and the bi-regional political dialogue should be further continued.
