On 17 May, Georgia’s Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani and his Moldovan and Ukrainian counterparts Aureliu Ciocoi and Dmytro Kuleba, signed a memorandum in Kyiv to further strengthen cooperation for common European goals and EU membership, reported agenda.ge.   

According to the document a new format of cooperation, the Associated Trio, has been founded which will help the countries rapidly integrate into the EU. The Associated Trio will work together on common interests for European integration, including the implementation of Association Agreements with the EU and the further development of the EU’s Eastern Partnership initiative. Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova will work together to strengthen political and economic dialogue and sectoral integration with the EU,” the Georgian Foreign Ministry has reported. The ministry also said that the countries will also take steps to boost cooperation with the EU on security and defence issues. The memorandum also stated that the three countries will move forward to ensure the EU’s greater involvement in the peaceful settlement of conflicts. 

Earlier, on 9 March 2021, the Deputy Director-General of the European Commission’s department for neighbourhood and enlargement Katarina Mathernova said that the European Commission was warming to the idea of offering a more ambitious integration plan to the trio. “The European Commission increasingly hears comments about a more tailor-made approach for the Trio, and at a recent meeting of EU countries Germany raised the issue of what more should be done for the three countries,” she said.  

In February 2021, the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) released a study which compared the trio’s integration efforts to the West Balkan states. The report concluded that the Balkan states were a bit ahead on the political-legal front, whereas the Eastern Europeans have advanced much more in terms of trade and economic cooperation.