Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy launched a new regional grouping on Friday bringing together eight parties from the Carpathian region of central and eastern Europe, during a summit held in western Ukraine to expand co-operation in trade, energy, logistics and security.
In a Telegram post summarising the meeting's results, Zelenskyy said the participants had signed 50 agreements worth more than €1 billion in total, equivalent to $1.15 billion. He said more than half of the agreements were related to the energy sector, particularly solar and wind energy projects. The Ukrainian president wrote: “The Carpathian region can become an energy supplier to the European Union, rather than merely a transit region..
Members of the grouping and date for completing its activities
This directly supports Europe's goal of energy independence from Russia.” The new grouping includes Romania, Serbia, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary, alongside the European Union. The grouping's launch event is scheduled to continue until Sunday, while around 550 business representatives were expected to attend the forum.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Romanian President Nicușor Dan attended Friday's meetings. At the start of the meeting, Zelenskyy said on Telegram: “This marks the beginning of a movement that will bring our countries closer together and create another strong framework for co-operation at European Union level.”
Regional co-operation focuses on security and energy
Zelenskyy said the new framework was intended to expand co-operation among the participating countries in energy, logistics, cross-border trade and security. He added in a speech delivered during the summit: “Naturally, security issues are a priority at present and in the years ahead.”
Zelenskyy also thanked Ukraine's regional allies for keeping trade and transport routes open after the outbreak of Russia's full-scale war in 2022, linking the new initiative to strengthening economic and regional ties in central and eastern Europe. In remarks broadcast by Ukrainian television, Zelenskyy described the launch's results as a good start, saying: “It is a good start: agreements in energy, logistics, infrastructure and across various sectors.”
