News

On 16 October during the EU Development Cooperation Policy session in Luxembourg Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Petras Vaitiekūnas discussed the ways for better coordination of different policies to increase effectiveness of the EU assistance to developing countries.

The Council Conclusions on the trade-related assistance emphasise that greater and more effective assistance is necessary in this field with the aim of supporting the capacity of developing countries and first of all the least developed countries for integration into the world trade system.

“Approving the ‘aid for trade’ initiative we propose to use it through technical assistance as a base for explanation of positive results of the Doha Round Negotiations to the developing countries and getting their support in the negotiations,” Minister Vaitiekūnas said.

The Head of Lithuanian Diplomacy proposed to increase the trade-related assistance to the transition economy states such as Lithuania’s neighbours.

The EU will strengthen the dialogue with the governments of the partner states urging them to strive for concrete results and assume responsibility for success of governance reforms.  The EU will render financial assistance for governance reforms, the amount of which depends on the progress of reforms.

Lithuania provides assistance on a bilateral basis to Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Iraq, Moldova and Ukraine in the fields of consolidation of democracy, the rule of law and human rights, economic development, European integration processes and enhancement of administrative competence of governments.

Every year the EU allocates 35 billon euro for development cooperation, and this possibly is one of the most important means to increase the influence of the EU and promote positive image of the Union in the developing countries.