The Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), consisting of senior representatives of Ukraine, the Russian Federation and the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, convened a meeting in Minsk today to inaugurate the activities of working groups. Representatives of certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions also took part in the meeting.

The working groups were established in response to the relevant provision of the Package of Measures on the Implementation of the Minsk agreements adopted on 12 February 2015, which was endorsed by the Heads of State and Government of the so-called Normandy Format.

At the inaugural event in Minsk four working groups have been set up under the auspices of the TCG, in keeping with point 13 of the Package of Measures on the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements agreed upon on 12 February 2015, on the following issues: security, political affairs, IDPs and refugees and humanitarian assistance as well as economic affairs and rehabilitation. All four working groups, initially coordinated by the respective representatives of the OSCE, have met today for the first time and agreed on their next steps.

The TCG remains hopeful that the establishment of working groups today will advance the implementation of the Minsk arrangements and thereby contribute to a political solution to the Ukraine crisis.