News

During a visit to the Czech Republic on 11-12 November, Lithuania’s Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Asta Skaisgirytė Liauškienė met with First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tomáš Pojar, Vice-Minister for European Affairs Jana Hendrichova and representatives from the Institute of State Administration. During the meetings, bilateral relations, the EU institutional issues, the Lisbon strategy after 2010, energy security, the Eastern Partnership and other important issues on the EU agenda were discussed.

During the meeting with First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Tomáš Pojar, Lithuania’s Vice-Minister highlighted the importance of taking further steps to strengthen the energy security of the EU and its member states. Vice-Minister A.Skaisgirytė Liauškienė drew attention to the new EU Energy Action Plan for 2010-2012, which is very important in this context. During the meeting, the Eastern Partnership initiative, the EU’s relations with Belarus, the Czech assistance to the European Humanities University, based in Vilnius, were discussed.

Vice-Minister A.Skaisgirytė Liauškienė thanked the representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic for the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission and expressed trust that the Czech Republic would contribute to this mission also in the future.

The Czech representatives presented the programme for strengthening administrative capacities when preparing to hold the EU Presidency, the programme for the preparation of the EU Presidency, the institutional mechanism for the Presidency and other issues.

The Czech Republic held the EU Presidency in the first half-year of 2009, and Lithuania will hold the EU Presidency in the second half-year of 2013.