FOREIGN POLICY PRIORITIES FOR 2011 WERE DISCUSSED AT THE MFA CONSULTATIONS OF THE EU MEMBER STATES IN BUDAPEST
On 13-14 January in Budapest, Political Director of the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Eitvydas Bajarūnas took part in the consultations of political directors from foreign ministries of 27 European Union’s member states. During the consultations, political directors exchanged their countries‘ views on the EU’s foreign policy priorities for 2011, discussed relations with the EU’s eastern neighbours and the situation in Sudan.
According to tradition, the country that assumes the six-month Presidency of the EU, hosts such consultations.A meeting with the U.S. Secretary‘s of State Assistant for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Gordon also took place in the capital of Hungary.
E.Bajarūnas presented the priorities of Lithuania’s Chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2011, expressed the position on the closure of the OSCE Office in Minsk and spoke about the actions of the OSCE and EU that contribute to the settlement of the protracted conflicts in Moldova, Georgia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Political Director of the Lithuanian MFA emphasized that advantage must be taken of Turkey’s growing influence in the Balkans, South Caucasus, the Middle East and Central Asia. This would require a greater coordination of EU-Turkey actions.
Hungary assumed its half-year EU’s Presidency on 1 January. Lithuania will hold the EU Presidency in the second half of 2013.
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