Ukraine begins presidency of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region

From November 2021 to November 2022, Ukraine will chair the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region (ESDR). Ukraine is the first non-EU country to lead this platform. As the Head of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region, Ukraine is committed to continuing the initiatives of the countries that previously led the ESDR and to make every effort to achieve significant results, especially with the implementation of the revised 2020 Strategy Action Plan.

The decision Ukraine’s chair in the EU Strategy for the Danube Region was unanimously approved on February 17, 2021, during Slovakia's presidency. According to the rotation, the chairmanship in the ESDR passes to the member state for one year. The role of the President is to coordinate the 14 member countries and to implement the EU's strategic initiatives in the region.

The Danube Strategy is a long-term policy of the European Union, as well as a platform and action plan for cooperation between the countries of the Danube region. It includes fourteen participating countries. Nine EU member states: Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, the Czech Republic and five non-EU countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Serbia, Ukraine and Montenegro. The Ukrainian part of the Strategy covers Odesa, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi and Zakarpattia regions. The strategy is aimed at ensuring the infrastructural, environmental, social, economic and institutional development of the region. The key tasks of the ESDR are to strengthen international ties, draw political attention to the need for the development of the Danube region, and strengthen cooperation between the authorities at all levels in the region.