According to the President of the Committee of the Regions, Mercedes Bresso, EU Eastern Partnership needs local and regional dimension. Ms Bresso presented at the Eastern Partnership summit, the recommendations from a recently launched dialogue with mayors and regional presidents from the neighbouring countries.

At the Eastern Partnership summit, Committee of the Regions President Mercedes Bresso underlined that local and regional authorities have a key role to play in strengthening ties between the EU and its Eastern neighbourhood. The heads of state and government from the EU and the partner countries met with representatives of EU institutions to take stock of the Partnership's progress. Ms Bresso also highlighted at the summit that the objectives of the Eastern Partnership cannot be achieved without the active support of local and regional authorities, especially when regional and local authorities are an important link between the central administrations and the citizen.

The European Union's 'Eastern Partnership' was launched in 2008 with the aim at forging closer ties with the six neighbouring countries Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Under these plans, new free trade agreements, gradual visa liberalisation and financial aid should help to promote democracy and human rights in the EU's neighbourhood. In addition, to help in the EU's relations with the Eastern neighbours, the Committee of the Regions has launched the Conference of regional and local authorities for the Eastern Partnership (CORLEAP). Its inaugural meeting took place on 8 September in the Polish city of Poznan and brought together 36 mayors and regional politicians from the EU and its Eastern neighbours.

The heads of state and government welcomed, in their official summit declaration, the launch of a yearly Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of the Eastern Partnership held under the auspices of the Committee of the Regions, and called upon the Committee of the Regions to work with the local and regional authorities from Eastern partners to establish a permanent institutional framework of cooperation.