Title page 1

Contents 3

Executive summary 8

Introduction 10

An institutional framework to overcome the diverging political and economic realities in the partner countries 16

A multilateral framework focused on connectivity as its central theme 17

Financing 21

Connectivity summits 22

Strengthening security 23

High-level political and security dialogue 25

An EaP security forum 26

Enhancing trade 26

Sustainability and energy 30

Connecting civil society and improving people-to-people contacts 33

Recommendations 38

Recommendation one: improve connectivity via the Middle Corridor 38

Recommendation two: establish a high-level political and security dialogue 38

Recommendation three: enhance institutional cooperation and sanction compliance 39

Recommendation four: improve sustainability 39

Recommendation five: develop civil society and people-to-people contacts 40

Recommendation six: change the political and institutional framework 40

Conclusion 42

Appendix: Current status of the bilateral relationships between the EU and the partner countries 46

EaP countries 47

The Central Asian countries 50

Bibliography 52

Figures 41

Figure 1. A multilateral EaP framework for the EU's partner countries 41