ANTANAS VALIONIS PARTICIPATES IN NATO FOREIGN MINISTERS’ MEETING
Created 2003-12-05
On 4 December, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Antanas Valionis participated in the meeting of foreign ministers from NATO member states and invited countries, held at NATO Headquarters in Brussels.
This was the first NATO ministerial meeting, where the seven invitees also participated.
During the meeting, NATO transformation, key issues of Euro-Atlantic security, NATO missions in Afghanistan and the Balkans and preparations for the Istanbul Summit were discussed.
The ministers adopted a communiqué stressing that NATO remained the basis of the collective defence and the essential Euro-Atlantic forum for security.
The Lithuanian Foreign Minister underlined at the meeting the importance of reaching collective decisions by consensus in the Alliance.
Minister Valionis pointed out that the anticipated wave of NATO enlargement would be the biggest in the history of the Alliance and bring stability to the whole Euro-Atlantic area.
Speaking on the issue of NATO-European Union cooperation, the Lithuanian Foreign Minister stated that Lithuania supported cooperation and expansion of European defence initiatives, which did not duplicate structures already existing in the Alliance.
Social media
