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Foreign Minister of the Republic of Lithuania Antanas Valionis made a speech on the euro-integration headway and the work of the Convention on the future of the EU at the plenary session of the Lithuanian Seimas (Parliament) on 23 January. "The prospect of joining the Schengen Area and the European Monetary Union in 2005-2007 will be part of our agenda for the nearest future. It has already been programmed in our EU accession negotiations. However, in a lot of other areas - environment, energy, judiciary, education and culture - Lithuanian and EU policies will inevitably converge," Minister Valionis stated. According to the minister, "currently, the time for Lithuania's different involvement in the European and Trans-Atlantic matters is starting". "Until now we have had friends in Europe, now a family," the chief of Lithuanian diplomacy said at the Parliament. In his opinion, the economic development of EU aspirant Lithuania, the successful competition of its goods and services on international markets are closely related to the development of transport and transit infrastructure, therefore the sites of transport infrastructure which are to become part of the prospective EU key transport networks should be accorded priority. "It is necessary to make every effort so that Lithuania's main transport routes and junctions should be acknowledged as part of the Trans-European network after the country's accession to the EU," Minister Valionis said. He also drew attention to the fact that Lithuania would have to assume the role of one of the key "border-guards" of the EU because as much as one fifth of the Union's Eastern border would run along Lithuania's frontier with Belarus and Russia. "Our task is to make the future border of the EU firm and transparent, yet at the same time friendly" the foreign minister emphasised. He expressed his strong belief that, having got unique experience and well-established political and administrative ties within the region, Lithuania would actively contribute to the enhancement of cooperation with the EU's Eastern neighbours, including Ukraine and Russia. "Within the framework of planning and implementation of the new neighbours initiative, our goal shall be the creation of incentives for reform in the countries which are not currently participating in the EU enlargement process. In this context, the initiatives of cooperation with the Kaliningrad Region put forward by Lithuania may become Lithuania's solid contribution to the development of the Baltic Region," the minister stated. In his opinion, the traditional instruments of diplomacy do not suffice when speaking of challenges of the EU membership, yet Lithuania is learning and has already learned "some important lessons of the European diplomacy". "Our diplomatic service has proved by its work that it can successfully adapt to the domestic and foreign policy issues which are virtually inseparable in the context of European integration and to take part in the process of priority setting for the economic agenda," the chief of Lithuanian diplomacy maintained.