Brussels - The European Union's executive was set Wednesday to unveil a plan to strengthen ties with former-Soviet neighbours, such as Ukraine and Georgia, which EU leaders pushed up the political agenda in the wake of the summer's Russian-Georgian war.

The so-called "Eastern Partnership," originally proposed by Poland and Sweden in May, is aimed at strengthening the EU's ties with Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova - and possibly Belarus if Minsk shows itself open to democratic reforms.

The original idea was for the EU to boost trade relations, visa freedom, diplomatic contacts and support for economic and democratic reforms in the former-Soviet area as a way of "strengthening the European offer" there.

The European Commission was initially expected to propose exactly how the bloc should put the plan into action - and how much money it should put into it - in spring 2009.

But in the wake of Russia's invasion of Georgia in August, EU heads of state and government at an emergency summit decided that it had become "more necessary than ever to support regional cooperation and step up (EU) relations with its eastern neighbours."

They therefore insisted that the commission should make its proposals before the end of this year.

According to commission officials, the proposal is to call for increased cooperation with the former-Soviet states in four key areas: democracy and good governance, the harmonization of economic systems and rules, energy security, and people-to-people contacts.

It is also expected to call for intense work on five flagship projects: border management, support for small businesses, connections between regional electricity grids, gas and oil pipelines from the Caspian Sea to Europe, and cooperation on disaster response.

The project is expected to receive funding from the EU's central budget, but it is not yet known how much it will get. (dpa)