On 14-15 September, Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins will participate in the foreign ministers' meeting of the General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) in Brussels.

The General Affairs session intends to discuss the preparations for the European Council of 29-30 October. The most important topics on the European Council agenda will be the Lisbon Treaty and the EU institutional issues, climate, the supervision of financial markets and the economic situation. The GAERC ministers, preparing for the European Council, also plan to debate the security of energy supplies.

At the external relations session the ministers are to discuss the relations between the EU and the South Caucasus countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. It is expected that the ministers, taking forward the achievements to date in the EU-South Caucasus dialogue, will review the prospects for further intensification of relations, given the value added opportunities by the Eastern partnership. During the discussion, Minister Riekstins will also inform about the results of his recent visit to Georgia.

The ministers plan to discuss the internal political situation in Afghanistan following the presidential and provincial elections on 20 August this year.  The discussion will cover also the proposals by the Council's Secretariat and the European Commission on the development of a strategy for Afghanistan, as well as the joint proposal by Germany, France and the United Kingdom to convene in 2009 a conference in support of Afghanistan.

The Council will also review the situation in Iran, the development of the internal political situation following this year's presidential elections on 12 June. At the same time, the ministers will review the nuclear and human rights aspects in the current relations between the European Union and Iran. 

Within the GAERC framework, on the initiative of the Swedish Presidency, the EU foreign ministers and the foreign ministers of Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) will hold a conference devoted to the regional security issue, to global economic and financial crisis as well as to energy and environmental security.

The European Union Foreign Ministers GAERC meetings take place once a month and are hosted by the foreign minister of the presiding EU member state.

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