First Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum with participation of civil society organizations representatives from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine held in Brussels in November 16-17, 2009. Vugar Bayramov, the chairman of Center for Economic and Social Development (CESD), Azerbaijan attended the forum. “Civil society and non-governmental organisations play a crucial role, within their societies, in providing policy input, following new initiatives and in holding governments accountable” mentioned in the forum. They can be active actors in promoting democratic and market-oriented reforms based on shared values, i.e. respect for democracy and human rights, the rule of law, good governance, principles of market economy and sustainable development. These are also the values and objectives of the European Neighbourhood Policy, including the newly created Eastern Partnership.

To ensure transparency of the process leading to the establishment of the Forum, all interested parties were invited to provide their opinion. The consultation process ended in April 2008. Some 40 contributions were received, mainly from civil society organisations based in the Eastern Partner countries but also from several EU-based organisations. A reasoned analysis of the contributions received can be found under Results of the consultations with CSOs and NGOs  .

In the Eastern Partnership joint declaration, the Prague Declaration, from 7 May 2009, “the participants of the Prague Summit invited the European Commission to develop and propose modalities for the establishment of a Civil Society Forum of the Eastern Partnership”. The Commission proposed the following Concept-paper .

On June 29 the Commission invited all interested parties, i.e. grass roots organisations, trade unions, employers' organisations, professional associations, NGOs, think-tanks, non-profit foundations, national and international CSOs/networks and other relevant Civil Society actors, to submit their Expressions of interest to participate in the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum