Ukraine, first non-EU country to chair EU Strategy for Danube region

The Coordination Center for the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region has agreed on Ukraine's bid to chair this initiative from November 2021 to November 2022. Ukraine will be responsible for determining the priority areas of cooperation among the countries within the Strategy.

For us, the chairmanship of the Danube Strategy is a great responsibility and another opportunity to study the experience of our neighbors in the region. Each platform for work with the European Union accelerates Ukraine's European integration movement, and especially when it comes to cooperation on the scale of one of the largest regions of Central Europe.

Oleksiy Chernyshov, Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine

On January 27, the Cabinet of Ministers supported the submission of Ukraine's application to chair the EU Strategy for the Danube Region from November 2021 to November 2022. Ukraine's aspiration to chair the EU Strategy for the Danube Region in 2022 was approved unanimously.

This means that Ukraine will be the first non-EU country to chair the Strategy. I am grateful to my partners for their support.

Olha Stefanishyna, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration

Now the Ministry of Regional Development, together with the Government Office for Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, is working on the preparation of a Program and Action Plan for Ukraine's presidency in the Strategy, including priorities and goals for the entire period of the presidency.

The EU Strategy for the Danube Region is the EU's long-term policy to address the problems of the Danube macro-region. Ukraine joined the implementation of the EU Strategy in 2011. The Ukrainian part of the Danube area covers Odessa, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi and Zakarpatia regions.

The States participating in the Strategy cooperate in the fields of shipping, environmental protection, in particular aquatic ecosystems, including the conservation of living water resources.