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The state institutions and non-governmental organizations that implement Lithuania’s development cooperation projects that are an integral part of Lithuania’s foreign policy and diplomacy, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis said during the meeting that was held on 20 December at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss Lithuanian development cooperation projects.

“One way or the other, you present Lithuania and represent the country, you create a positive image of Lithuania abroad,” the Minister said.

47 development cooperation projects in Afghanistan’s province of Ghor, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Palestine and Ukraine, and information projects on development cooperation in Lithuania were financed from the funds of the development cooperation programme this year.

In 2010, Lithuania allocated six million Litas to the development cooperation programme. Almost 70 percent of all the projects were implemented by Lithuania’s non-governmental sector.

Minister A.Ažubalis mentioned a few projects, which Lithuania had implemented in Afghanistan and Georgia, and which were especially favorably evaluated by partner countries.

Over the recent few years, Lithuania constructed micro-hydroelectric power stations that supply nearly 700 houses with electricity in three villages in Afghanistan’s province of Ghor. The first public library was opened in Chaghcharan and over three thousand books were purchased for the library. 19 schools were built in the province’s most remote villages.

International Business School at Vilnius University, in cooperation with professors of Caucasus University, developed a women entrepreneurship programme and trained Georgian female entrepreneurs, who now themselves widely share their knowledge and teach local women entrepreneurship skills. Georgia’s Khashuri District Library has been renovated.

The Minister invited participants of the meeting to suggest ideas regarding the provision of support next year in the priority countries that were chosen by the Government of Lithuania. According to the Minister, the legal basis for the development cooperation programme will also be enhanced in order to make it more effective, simpler and more transparent.