News

On 24–29 March, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius is paying a working visit to New York City. In the headquarters of the United Nations (UN), he will meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and discuss Lithuania’s progress while running for a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council in 2014–2015.

The Minister will also present the priorities of the upcoming Lithuanian presidency of the Council of the European Union and discuss the strengthening of the partnership between the United Nations and the European Union.

As stressed by Linkevičius, bloody clashes and longstanding conflicts in many parts of the world, high rate of the violations of human rights and democratic standards, devastating poverty throughout the regions and hunger remind us that the ideals of the United Nations have not yet become reality.

“Although being a small country, Lithuania cannot avoid responsibility for the security in the world and therefore is constantly supporting the efforts of the international community to ensure global peace and stability”, the Minister stressed.

During the meetings in New York City, the UN Secretary General’s initiatives in the fields of the promotion and strengthening of democracy and women’s rights as well as international conflict prevention mechanisms will be discussed. Lithuania aims at establishing the protection of the civilian population during conflicts as one of the priorities of UN activity.

Linkevičius also intends to meet the ambassadors of current non-permanent members of the UN Security Council and representatives of the regional groups in the UN. Participants of the meetings will discuss relevant issues in the United Nations and the UN Security Council’s agenda: peace process in the Middle East, the situation in Syria, the conflict in Mali, climate change issues and the strengthening of UN cooperation with regional organizations. While discussing about sustainable development and support for development, Lithuania intends to emphasize the importance of the energy security factor.

Since 1996, Lithuania has been a candidate for non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council for the period 2014–2015.