On November 12, 2019 Roaming Stakeholder Meeting of the Network of Eastern Partnership Regulators for Electronic Communications was held in Vilnius to discuss the roaming issues. At this meeting, Special Briefing Session was organised for the Ambassadors of the Eastern Partnership Countries and European Union Member States in Lithuania and their representatives. The Session was also attended by the Head of the European Commission Representation in Lithuania and representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania.
Roaming Stakeholder Meeting is a continuous initiative of the Roaming Expert Working Group (REWG) of the Network of Eastern Partnership Regulators for Electronic Communications chaired by the representatives of the National Commission for the State Regulation of Communications and Informatization of Ukraine and the Communications Regulatory Authority of the Republic of Lithuania (RRT). REWG working group is responsible for coordination of the implementation of the initiative introduced by Ukraine in 2015 to develop a common roaming space for the six Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries.
During the Roaming Stakeholder meeting, members of the REWG working group held a discussion with the competent ministries of the Eastern Partnership and agreed on the basic principles of the Regional Roaming Agreement RRA to be signed among the six EaP countries. The aim of this RRA is harmonization and reduction of roaming prices between Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. After this meeting, RRA shall be drafted followed by national public consultations with operators and competent authorities. RRA is expected to be signed by the end of 2020.
Another significant stage, which is important in a broader context of the social and economic integration of the EaP countries into EU, is to develop a common roaming space among EaP countries and the EU Member States. At the Third Meeting of the Ministers of Digital Economy of the Eastern Partnership countries on February 28, 2019 in Bucharest, the first step towards this important goal was made – the stakeholders agreed to launch discussions on the implementation of the initiative to reduce the roaming tariffs among EaP and EU regions, and to initiate feasibility study.
In order to present this ambitious goal in a broader political level, after the Stakeholder Roaming Meeting, a Special Briefing Session for the Ambassadors of EaP countries and EU Member States was organised that was initiated and supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania. Information regarding current state and progress of signing RRA between the six EaP countries was presented to the participants of the Session – the Ambassadors and their representatives of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Hungary and Germany; moreover, the participants were presented the subsequent initiative to develop a common roaming space among EaP countries and EU Member States. Participants of the session were welcomed by Mr. Feliksas Dobrovolskis, Director General of RRT, Mr. Arnoldas Pranckevičius, Head of the European Commission Representation in Lithuania, Mr. Jonas Daniliauskas Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania and the special coordinator of the Eastern Partnership policy, as well as Ms. Viola Calabrese, representative of the European Commission.
Roaming Stakeholders Meeting was organized by RRT in cooperation with the National Commission for the State Regulation of Communications and Informatization of Ukraine and the European Commission.
Updated on 2019-11-19