ELDR congratulates Mr Istvan Sertö-Radics who will be the chair of the External Relations Commission in the Committee of Regions (Relex) from 6 February for a period of two years. Mayor of the Hungarian town of Uszka and Vice President of Relex, Mr Sertö-Radics said that his priorities will be to continue strengthening relations with representatives of local and regional authorities in candidate and pre-candidate countries, as well as in the European Neighbourhood area and in Russia; drawing the EU closer to Ukraine with enhanced political co-operation, and increased trade and investment will contribute to economic development and prosperity in Ukraine. “My work – he continued – will be more specifically focused on opportunities for solving common problems through increased cross–border and regional cooperation between the regional and local authorities of the EU and Ukraine”.