On May 13, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba took part in a meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Central five European countries: Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and Czechia at the invitation of Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Minister Ivan Korčok.

For the first time, Ukraine joined the work of the regional format of cooperation between Central Five European countries.

"Ukraine and Central Europe are united by a common history and identity. We have strong political and economic ties. That's why I didn't hesitate when I received an offer to take part in this meeting," Dmytro Kuleba said.

The head of Ukrainian diplomacy proposed three priority areas of cooperation between Ukraine and five Central European countries: vaccination of the population, safe travel for citizens and business support in a pandemic.

He paid special attention to improving the mobility of citizens.

"COVID-19 paralyzed the travel of citizens in Europe and the world as well. It is important that we join forces to restore safe international travel. This will not only improve mobility, but also strengthen our economies," Dmytro Kuleba stressed.

Ministers discussed the possibility of concluding agreements on the recognition of vaccination certificates.

The interlocutors paid special attention to the security situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and increase in the concentration of the armed forces of the Russian Federation near the Ukrainian borders.

The Ukrainian Minister stressed that the withdrawal of troops having announced by the Russian side was only partial, and only in the direction of the temporarily occupied Crimea. According to him, a significant number of units and equipment of the Russian army continues to remain near the border of Ukraine.

"Strong international support for Ukraine has forced Russia to stop rattling the saboteur. At the same time, the threat of new military provocations remains. We must take additional measures to deter Russia from further aggressive actions," Dmitry Kuleba emphasized.

In this context, the foreign ministers discussed steps to strengthen security in Eastern and Central Europe.

Apart from that Dmytro Kuleba told about the national strategy of deoccupation of Crimea and the launch of the Crimean platform. He invited Central European partners to take part in its inaugural summit in Kyiv on August 23.