StrategEast center awarded Carl Bildt a StrategEast Political Westernization Award for launching the Eastern Partnership initiative. Over the past decade,the collective efforts of the EU and the Eastern neighbors – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine have brought considerable benefits to the citizens, including more trade, mobility, increased economic development and better quality of life.
Carl Bildt is a Co-Chair of the European Council of Foreign Relations, he served both as a Prime Minister of Sweden (1991-1994) and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden (2006-2014).
Due to the continuous restrictions for in-person events, the award handover ceremony was held online with the discussion between the StrategEast president Anatoly Motkin and Carl Bildt onthe history, present and future of the Eastern Partnership.
According to Mr. Build, over the past 10 years since the establishment of the Eastern Partnership, the program has substantial achievements, such as free trade agreements and a visa-free regime with Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia. But at the same time, the still existing problems are obvious, since the two countries of the Eastern Partnership – Armenia and Azerbaijan are still at war with each other.
Answering Anatoly Motkin’s question on what the Eastern Partnership could do to resolve such conflicts, Mr. Build noted that a peace agreement between those countries should be possible within the next few years. “And then I think the Eastern Partnership really comes into play with economic cooperation, civil society cooperation. Modernization of the societies will make it possible to have far better cooperation in the Southern Caucasus – Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan where the potential is great but where this particular conflict has been an obstacle to progress within the last decades,” – Mr. Build explained.
StrategEast Westernization Award was established in 2018 and is awarded to emphasize the significant contributions of politicians, business representatives, and civil activists in creating closer ties between this region and the Western World. It is presented in 6 categories: Economic Westernization, Political Westernization, Legal Westernization, Westernization of Lifestyle, Language and Culture Westernization, and Lifetime Achievement.
Learn more about the nominees of the StrategEast Westernization Award 2019.
