To develop the eastern dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy, the European Council invited the Commission to present a proposal for modalities of the "The Eastern partnership". In Prague at the Eastern Partnership Summit on May 7, 2009, the Eastern Partnership was established. The main goal of the Eastern Partnership is to create the necessary conditions to accelerate political association and further economic integration between the European Union and interested partner countries.

The Eastern Partnership aims to strengthen energy security through cooperation with regard to long-term stable and secure energy supply and transit, including through better regulation, energy efficiency and more use of renewable energy sources. The cooperation should be complementary to the already existing and planned multilateral cooperation under and related to the ENP, in particular the Black Sea Synergy and the Northern Dimension. Its geographical scope is Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Russia could be invited to participate on a case by case basis for specific projects. EIB is participating in Eastern Partnership high level meetings and also in some working groups.