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On 14 July, at Intergovernmental Conferences with Ukraine and Moldova held in Brussels, the negotiating clusters that cover external relations were officially opened.

This negotiating cluster covers trade policy, external relations, development cooperation, humanitarian aid, common foreign and security policy. The significant progress achieved by Ukraine and Moldova in these areas confirms their ability not only to implement reforms consistently, but also to actively contribute to strengthening the overall European security architecture. Ukraine’s high level of alignment with the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy is a clear political signal and further proof that
Ukraine's future is anchored in the European family.

“Ukraine is steadily pursuing reforms and moving forward in the process of accession to the European Union, despite Russia’s aggression. Today's opening of the negotiating clusters is yet another concrete demonstration of this progress. Lithuania will continue to strongly support Ukraine on its path to the European Union. Ukraine's membership will strengthen the European Union as a whole," said the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Sigitas Mitkus.

Lithuania calls for the immediate opening of the remaining negotiating clusters and for ensuring the smooth and ambitious progress of Ukraine’s and Moldova’s EU accession negotiations.

On the same day, accession conferences  were held with Albania and Montenegro, during which the candidate countries provisionally closed negotiating clusters. Montenegro closed two clusters: competition policy (chapter 8) and customs union (chapter 29). Albania closed three clusters: science and research (chapter 25), education and culture (chapter 26), and external relations (chapter 30).

Photo: The EU