The meeting was chaired by DG ENTR (Christos Kyriatzis and Michaela Hauf) as the coordinating entity of Platform 2.
Mr Kyriatzis appealed to the audience to engage in the Platform activities with a "high level of motivation" in order to keep the momentum - which is of particular importance given recent events in Eastern partner countries. Continuing on this note, Richard Tibbels (EEAS) outlined the EU's approach to the multi-lateral track following the Vilnius Summit. Whilst all participants agreed that there was a need for greater differentiation between partner countries in order to allow for "different speeds", unanimity prevailed over the fact that the policy pursued is still "the right one" and that it was ever more so important to keep the multilateral dialogue alive as an important tool for implementing the objectives agreed in the Vilnius Declaration. This commitment was immediately confirmed by the success of the Platform meeting which showed a very high level of participation and unprecedented engagement and interest from all participants (partner countries, Member States, International Organizations, business and Commission services).
The EBA Moldova was also represented at Eastern Partnership meeting. Mariana Rufa, Executive director EBA presented the challenges that the businesses are facing in the context of DCFTA implementation and the business support services and actions the EBA Moldova has undertaken in this regard to facilitate foreign trade and conducive business legislation. EBA reiterated the support and the cooperation they have received in the context of the lobby activities with the Parliament and Government of Moldova.