All 6 partner countries were present and the discussions were constructive.

The meeting was enhanced by the participation of the Civil Society Forum, EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) and ETF (European Training Foundation), as well as representatives of the business community.

The meeting kicked off with an overview of past political highlights. The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) Review, differentiation and streamlining our cooperation featured prominently in the presentations. This was followed by a presentation by the Directorate-General (DG) for Communications Networks, Content and Technology on the 'latest addition' to Platform 2: the Panel on Harmonising Digital Markets.

The meeting moved on to the topic of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) policy with the presentation of the recent Small Business Act (SBA) Assessment undertaken in Eastern partner countries. The SBA Assessment Report was launched by all four partner organisations (the European Commission, OECD, EBRD and ETF) on 24 November 2015 on the occasion of OECD Eurasia Week.

Also linked to the topic of SME policy was the subsequent presentation on the outcome of the Women Entrepreneurship Study undertaken by the Study Facility in cooperation with ETF.

The morning session was concluded by a discussion on the future of the Eastern Partnership Business Forum.

The afternoon session was fully dedicated to the mid-term review of the Work Programme. The session was kicked off by the DG for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations with a comprehensive overview of all flagship initiatives (SMEs, Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreements facility for SMEs, environmental governance and climate change prevention) and projects (transport, agriculture) related to Platform 2.

All Platform participants agreed that the multilateral track is more important than ever, that the needs of partner countries (DCFTA and non-DCFTA) should be taken into consideration as much as possible and that a greater active involvement of EU countries is desirable.

The Eastern Partnership is an effort by the EU and its Eastern European partners to promote political and economic reforms in the Eastern partner region, and support efforts of the countries in the region to move closer to the EU.

It is part of the EU Neighbourhood Policy. It works on bilateral and multilateral tracks. 4 thematic platforms which meet twice a year are the main tool of the multilateral track. The Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs coordinates and chairs Platform 2, which is the broadest platform covering many sectorial policies.