DISCUSSIONS ON THE REGIONAL COOPERATION BETWEEN TAURAGĖ COUNTY AND KALININGRAD REGION
On 7 July, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vygaudas Ušackas visited Tauragė County, where he met with representatives from business, media and local authorities of the county’s regions Šilalė, Jurbarkas, Pagėgiai and Tauragė. In Tauragė, Minister V.Ušackas discussed possibilities of regional cooperation with the Kaliningrad Region, took interest in practical challenges that the Lithuanian citizens residing on the border with Kaliningrad Region are facing. According to V.Ušackas, one of the priorities of Lithuania’s Presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) is the promotion of regional cooperation with the Kaliningrad Region.
“While cooperating with their colleagues in Russia, the Lithuanian Government aims at facilitating visa regime for the residents of border areas of Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Region, also at optimising border capacity,” emphasized Minister V.Ušackas in response to the questions of the assembled.
The Minister also suggested that in the future, when border crossing facilitation comes into effect, excursions of pupils to Lithuanian historic cultural heritage sites in the Kaliningrad Region were organised. Abraomas Kulvietis and Stanislovas Rapolionis are among the fathers of the Lithuanian writing tradition, who worked in Königsberg (now Kaliningrad). Martynas Mažvydas was the first Lithuanian student to graduate from Albertina, the University of Königsberg (now Immanuel Kant State University of Russia). In this city, Daniel Klein published the first grammar book of the Lithuanian language, Jonas Bretkūnas translated the Bible into Lithuanian and the most renowned Lithuanian writer of the 18th century Kristijonas Donelaitis lived and worked in Tolminkiemis (now Chistye Prudy) after graduating from University.
On 3-4 July during his visit to the Kaliningrad Region, Minister of Foreign Affairs V.Ušackas went to Tolminkiemis, paid his respects at K.Donelaitis’s resting place and viewed the museum and the church, where the writer served as pastor of the parish until his death.
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