News

On 17 April in Luxembourg, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Luxembourg Jean Asselborn met to discuss bilateral relations, aggression against Ukraine, the EU-Russia relations, Eastern Neighbourhood and information security issues.

The meeting focused on Luxembourg’s readiness for the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from 1 July 2015. The officials agreed to maintain a bilateral dialogue at various levels on key issues of the EU agenda. Cooperation in multilateral formats, including the UN Security Council was also discussed by the ministers. In May, Lithuania initiates the UN Security Council’s high level open debates on protection of civilians in armed conflicts with special focus on the safety and security of journalists, where Foreign Ministers of other countries are invited to participate.

Lithuania’s Foreign Minister underlined Luxembourg’s significant role in the implementation of decisions of the NATO Summit in Wales. Luxembourg has allocated financial support for NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission; its contingent took part in the military exercise Iron Sword 2014 in November in Lithuania. Linkevičius said that the “cooperation between Lithuania and Luxembourg in the field of defence shows that there is a strong interaction between NATO partners”.

At the meeting between Linkevičius and with the President of Luxembourg’s Chamber of Deputies Mars Di Bartolomeo, Linkevičius discussed parliamentary cooperation, highlighted the importance of ratification of Association Agreements with Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia prior to the upcoming Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga.