Awwal 27, 1432 H/March 2, 2011, SPA -- German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle was in Ukraine on Wednesday for talks on economic cooperation and civil society in the former Soviet republic. The two-day trip was part of Berlin's ongoing Eastern Partnership programme, which is aimed at establishing closer economic and political ties between Germany and former Communist states. Westerwelle was scheduled to deliver a speech Wednesday evening at Ukraine's elite Schevchenko University, where he would call for accelerated reforms and a strengthening of civil society, dpa cited a German Foreign Ministry statement as saying. Westerwelle was planning to travel Thursday to the Slovak capital Bratislava for meetings with the Visegrad Group (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary) and Eastern Partnership members (Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia). He was also scheduled to hold talks with Slovak Prime Minister Iveta Radicova.
