Berlin reveals expectations from Normandy format video conference
Berlin hopes that a video conference of the foreign ministers of Normandy format countries next week will boost the implementation of the decisions made at the summit in December 2019.
"Our expectation is that we want to give impetus and move forward in the implementation of the decisions [made at the summit in Paris] through a new meeting in the videoconference format," German Foreign Ministry spokesman Christopher Burger said at a press conference on April 24, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
He referred to German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who stated that the important points of the Paris summit arrangements had not been implemented yet.
Deputy spokesperson for the German Government, Ulrike Demmer added that the foreign ministers of Germany, France, Ukraine, and Russia maintained the contact and the German Government discussed the corresponding issues, in particular, with the French counterparts. She specified that the implementation of the decisions of the Normandy format summit in Paris, primarily the establishment of the comprehensive ceasefire and creation of new disengagement areas, were discussed.
Demmer noted that the pandemic also posed a major challenge in the organization of meetings in the Normandy format.
As a reminder, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas announced a video conference meeting on April 22. However, the date of a possible meeting is unknown. At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine informed that a meeting was tentatively scheduled for April 30.
ol