Minister for Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine Mr Eduard Stavytskyi paid the first visit to the European institutions in Brussels.

At the meeting with EU Commissioner for Environment J.Potocnik the parties launched a high level Ukraine-EU dialogue on environment. Prospects of further deepening and intensification of cooperation between Ukraine and the EU to be opened with conclusion of the Association agremeent were also discussed.

E.Stavytskyi briefed J.Potocnik on implementation of the National Strategy of Ukraine and National Action Plan on Environmental Protection for 2011-2015 and thanked the EU side for the respective budget support.

Prospects for the establishment of a non-governmental Regional Environmental Centre of Ukraine in order to promote knowledge about the environment and enhance the role of the civil society in this matter were also discussed.

The parties touched upon fulfillment by Ukraine of its commitments within multilateral agreements, namely ESPOO and Aarhus Conventions, and had an exchange of views on recent UN “Rio+20” Conference.