News

On 23 March in Ottawa, Undersecretary of the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Darius Jurgelevičius attended the conference Changing Face of Europe: Opportunities for Canada, where opening possibilities of cooperation between the enlarged European Union (EU) and Canada were discussed. The conference was held by the embassies and missions of the new EU Member States together with Carleton University in Ottawa and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. The Conference was opened by Member of the House of Commons, Chairman of the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association Charles Cassia. Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham welcomed the participants. European Commissioner for Enlargement Gunter Verheugen also sent his word of welcome. At the conference, parliamentarians of the new EU Member States as well as high-ranking state officials and academicians presented their views on the enlarging Europe. In his report EU Enlargement: Impact on Border Control - Kaliningrad Transit Issue, Lithuanian Foreign Undersecretary Darius Jurgelevičius underlined that after accession to the EU Lithuania would be responsible for the control of one-fifth of the EU Eastern border. Thus the issues related to the control of the Lithuanian border as well as persons crossing it become of the primary importance and presuppose appearance of a special responsibility to the EU partners. “The issue of the Kaliningrad transit has a special significance in this context, as the problem of full control of the citizens of the Russian Federation going from this enclave to the mainland Russia trough the territory of Lithuania was solved after the long and intensive negotiations with the EU and Russia previous to Lithuania’s becoming a full-fledged member of the EU,” Darius Jurgelevičius pointed out.