PRESIDENTS OF MOLDOVA AND UKRAINE SHOW INTEREST TO JOINING THE THREE SEAS INITIATIVE

The Presidents of Moldova and Ukraine, Maia Sandu and Vladimir Zelenskii, have expressed their countries' interest to join the Three Seas Initiative, also known as the Baltic, Adriatic, Black Sea (BABS) Initiative.

The two heads of state wrote in their Joint Statement, adopted in Kiev on Tuesday: "With an account of Moldova's and Ukraine's strivings and of the European path chosen by our peoples, we hereby confirm interest to regional cooperation for realization of the strategic objectives of our states related to obtaining the full-fledged membership of the European Union, including through realization of the Association Agreement".

Sandu and Zelenskii believe it is necessary to further develop the cooperation format of "EU + 3 associated partners" [the third partner is the Republic of Georgia]. They called the European Union to deepening the dialog on the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement [DCFTA, the essential-most component of the EU-Moldova Association Agreement], to its broadening and passing over to other aspects of profiled cooperation and integration, including in the areas of justice, digital economy, energy, transport and environment protection".

The Three Seas Initiative, also known as the Baltic, Adriatic, Black Sea (BABS) Initiative, or simply the Three Seas (in Latin, Trimarium), is a forum of twelve states in the European Union, along a north-south axis from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic Sea and the Black Sea in Central and Eastern Europe. The Initiative aims to create an Intermarium-based regional dialog on various questions affecting the member states - Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. They met for their first summit in Dubrovnik in 2016.