News

On 8-10 February, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Petras Vaitiekūnas took part in the 44th Munich Conference on Security Policy. The topic of the conference this year was ‘The World in Disray - Shifting Powers - Lack of Strategies Strikes’.

During the conference, the greatest attention was dedicated to the discussion on strategies for resolving international and regional conflicts peacefully. The participants of the conference also discussed challenges to European security, the issues of Afghanistan, Asia, Russia, the arms control and NATO.

Many of the speakers very positively evaluated the informal meeting of NATO Ministers of Defence, which was held in Vilnius on the eve of the conference. The forum in Vilnius strengthened the unity of the Alliance regarding the mission in Afghanistan, and other issues. The participants of the Munich Conference also spoke favourably about the participation of Lithuanian troops in peace-keeping missions.

In Munich, the head of Lithuanian diplomacy also met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Vartan Oskanian, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Sergei Martynov, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova Andrei Stratan, Vice Prime Minister of Georgia and State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Giorgi Baramidze, Federal Foreign Minister of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Together with the Ministers of the European Union and neighbouring countries, P.Vaitiekūnas discussed important issues of international security and bilateral cooperation.

The Munich Conferences on Security Policy have been held annually since 1964. Ministers, representatives of the armed forces, members of parliament, journalists and experts from more than 40 countries meet in Munich each year to discuss the issues of transatlantic relations, European and global security.