Informal Meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers (GYMNICH), Paphos - Main contents

date	September 7, 2012 - September 8, 2012
city	Paphos, Cyprus
location	Aphrodite Hills Resort
attending	U. (Uri) Rosenthal i, C.M. (Catherine) Ashton i et al.
organisation	Informele Raad van ministers van Buitenlandse Zaken (Gymnich) i

The informal meeting of the Foreign Ministers is usually held once every six months in the member state which holds the Presidency of the Council of the EU. It has duration of two days (usually held on a Friday and Saturday). The meeting, which is also known as the "Gymnich", named after the castle in Germany where the first meeting was held during the German Presidency of the EU Council in 1974, is informal and as such no Conclusions are adopted . This enables the EU Foreign Ministers to discuss freely current EU's foreign policy issues. The Gymnich is chaired by the High Representative of the EU for Foreign affairs and Security Policy, Ms Catherine Ashton. Other participants of the meeting include the European Correspondents from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of each member state who accompany the Ministers and representatives of the European Commission.

Competent Ministry:

Ministry of Foreign Affairs