The 1st Eastern Partnership Media Conference will address the role of the media in the Eastern Partnership (EaP) region. The conference will look at the current challenges in the field of media in the EaP countries and consider appropriate responses to them. Participants also will have an opportunity to apply for a special event that will take place on 19 May to discuss Russian-language media in the EaP region and beyond.

The conference is organised by the Latvian Presidency in cooperation with the European Commission and the European External Action Service. It is one of the events around the 4th Eastern Partnership Summit, and it will take place in Riga on 20 May 2015.

This event will be an extraordinary opportunity to discuss the media environment and its challenges in the EaP countries with the media community, experts, academia, civil society and policy-makers from these countries and the EU. The working languages of the conference will be Latvian, English and Russian with simultaneous interpretation. Deadline for registration is 12 May. A total of 350 participants are expected to take part in the event.

For the conference, the following hashtag will be used on social media: #EaPMedia

• Welcoming address by Ināra Mūrniece, the Speaker of the Saeima (Latvian Parliament)
• Opening remarks by Christian Danielsson Director-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, European Commission
• Closing speech by Johannes Hahn, European Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations
• Address by Dace Melbārde, Latvian Minister for Culture