In early 1991, Václav Havel, President of the Czech Republic, writes a first draft of the Declaration which will inaugurate the Visegrad Group. After common agreement with his counterparts Josef Antall, Prime Minister of the Republic of Hungary, and Lech Walesa, President of the Republic of Poland, the three sign the final text of the Visegrad Declaration on 15 February 1991.

On 15 February 1991, the French Communist daily newspaper L’Humanité comments on the efforts made by Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary to speed up the dissolution of the Warsaw Treaty, a prerequisite for the development of tripartite regional cooperation.

On 15 February 1991, Václav Havel, President of the Czech Republic, Josef Antall, Prime Minister of the Republic of Hungary, and Lech Walesa, President of the Republic of Poland, establish the Visegrad Group (named after a town near Budapest) by signing a ‘Declaration on cooperation between the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Hungary in striving for European integration'.

On 15 February 1991, Václav Havel, President of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, Josef Antall, Prime Minister of the Republic of Hungary, and Lech Walesa, President of the Republic of Poland, establish the Visegrad Group (named after a town near Budapest) by signing the ‘Declaration on cooperation between the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Hungary in striving for European integration'.

At the end of their first joint meeting, held in Luxembourg on 5 October 1992, the Foreign Ministers of the Twelve and their counterparts in the three countries of the Visegrád Group adopt a joint statement with a view to the progressive integration of those three countries into the European Community.

In October 1992, the French monthly newspaper Le Monde Diplomatique comments on the birth of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic on 1 January 1993 as it effects the efforts to achieve regional integration in Central and Eastern Europe.

On 9 December 1994, the French daily newspaper Le Monde publishes an article by Raymond Barre, former French Prime Minister, and Bronislaw Geremek, Polish historian and politician, in which they particularly focus on the driving role of the Visegrad Group in the integration of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEECs) into the European Union.

On 5 December 2001, the Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers of Benelux and the Visegrad Group meet at the Kirchberg Conference Centre in Luxembourg to discuss the future of Europe in general and to consider in particular the strengthening of cooperation between the two regional groups.

On 5 December 2001, the Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers of Benelux and of the Visegrad Group meet at the Kirchberg Conference Centre in Luxembourg. The future of Europe is the main theme of this first meeting between the two regional cooperation bodies.

On 5 December 2001, at the press conference held after the first Summit meeting between Benelux and the Visegrad Group, Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg Prime Minister, sets out his vision and ideas on the process of constitutionalisation of the Union and the dialogue between the governments and citizens on European matters. From left to right: Viktor Orbán, Jean-Claude Juncker, Wim Kok and Guy Verhofstadt.

On 12 May 2004, Vladimír Špidla, Czech Prime Minister, Péter Medgyessy, Hungarian Prime Minister, Marek Belka, Polish Prime Minister, and Mikuláš Dzurinda, Slovak Prime Minister, issue a joint declaration on the cooperation objectives of the Visegrad countries following the accession of their countries to the European Union on 1 May.

Map depicting the establishment of the Visegrad Group on 15 February 1991 as well as its development up to 2015.

Signed on 21 December 1992 in Krakow by the founding members of the Visegrád Group, the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) seeks to promote the harmonious development of trade between its signatory countries through the ‘intensification of mutually beneficial trade relations’ and to prepare, in the long term, for their accession to the European Union.

On 19 December 2006, in Bucharest, nine countries in south-east Europe and the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo sign the agreement on the amendment of and accession to the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA).

On 19 December 2006, in Bucharest, after seven months of intense negotiations, nine countries of South-East Europe and the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) sign the agreement on the amendment and enlargement of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA).

On 19 December 2006, in Bucharest, at the official signing of the agreement to amend and enlarge the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA), Erhard Busek, Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, welcomes the ability of the signatory countries to overcome their differences and praises their determination to build a prosperous future.

Map showing how the Central European Free Trade Agreement came into force in 1992 and its development up to 2015.