At the meeting of the U.S.-Baltic-Nordic initiative of Enhanced Partnership in Northern Europe (e-PINE) on September 14 in Vilnius, Directors of Departments for Regional Affairs of the Foreign Ministries discussed perspectives of the U.S.-Nordic-Baltic cooperation, situation in the region, relations with neighbouring countries, especially with Eastern European countries.

Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Evaldas Ignatavičius welcomed participants of the meeting. He noted that the first e-PINE meeting in Vilnius took place in 2004, but this cooperation forum has not lost its relevance over time. According to the Vice-Minister, relations with Eastern neighbouring countries - Russia, Belarus, and other Eastern Partnership countries - were important back then and now.