The first AER Breakfast briefing of the year took place on the 27 January 2009 at 9.00am at the Wielkopolska regional office and dealt with the new Eastern Partnership.

The Eastern Partnership is a project which was formally proposed to be initiated by the European Union (EU). It was presented by the foreign minister of Poland with assistance from Sweden at a the EU's General Affairs and External Relations Council in Brussels on 26 May 2008.

It is meant to complement the Northern Dimension and the Union for the Mediterranean by providing an institutionalised forum for discussing visa agreements, free trade deals and strategic partnership agreements with the EU's eastern neighbours, while avoiding the controversial topic of accession to the European Union. Its geographical scope is to consist of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine (Belarus will only participate at a technical level, while Russia will be invited to participate in some local initiatives, for instance regarding its Kaliningrad Oblast exclave. Unlike the Union for the Mediterranean, the Eastern Partnership will not have its own secretariat, but would be controlled directly by the European Commission.

Further information about this Breakfast Briefing can be found on the office of Wielkopolska Region in Brussels' website