Lithuania-Turkey political consultations took place on 26 October in Vilnius. During the consultations, Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Vytautas Leškevičius and Deputy Undersecretary for European Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Hasan Göğüş discussed the most important issues related to bilateral political, security and economic cooperation, as well as joint activities in international organisations.

“Lithuania actively backs the continuity in the European Union’s enlargement policy and consistently supports Turkey’s aspirations of European integration. Lithuania’s Presidency of the EU Council will seek to give a new positive impetus to Turkey’s EU accession negotiations and actively share Lithuania’s experience of European integration,” the Vice-Minister said.

When speaking about bilateral economic relations, Leškevičius invited Turkey to strengthen cooperation in the field of transport and use the possibilities to transport cargo between the Baltic and Black Sea regions by the shuttle train Viking.

During the discussions, Lithuanian Foreign Vice-Minister stressed that the bilateral economic ties and tourism, as well as the development of people-to-people contacts, would benefit from direct flights between the two countries. The Turkish Undersecretary pointed out that the Turkish Airlines were already working on this project.

The meeting also discussed issues related to Lithuania’s Presidency of the EU Council and the Syrian crisis. The Vice-Minister voiced Lithuania’s support to Turkey’s efforts to address the humanitarian crisis along the border of Syria and Turkey with refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria. This year, Lithuania in solidarity with Turkey and other NATO countries, allocated financial assistance to address this crisis. The interlocutors discussed also other important issues related to the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, as well as the key items on NATO’s agenda.