News

On 26-27 September in Nida, Undersecretary of Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Laimonas Talat-Kelpša took part in the conference ‘Development of Relations Between the European Union and Russia: the Case of Kaliningrad’.

During the event, most attention was devoted to the issues that were raised ten years ago and still remained important for the cooperation between Lithuania and Kaliningrad, the so-called ‘Nida Initiatives’.

Representatives from the Kaliningrad Region’s Duma, diplomats from Lithuania and foreign countries, political scientists, representatives from the European Commission and journalists took part in the round table discussions.

Present situation in the Kaliningrad Region was discussed, including the goals that were achieved in ten years. Representatives from foreign universities heeded attention of the participants to the projects that are still not implemented in the Kaliningrad Region.

During the round table discussion, representatives from the Kaliningrad Region’s Duma admitted that the goal for Kaliningrad to become an experimental region remained not achieved and also agreed that more effort was necessary to implement projects of good neighbourhood. The cooperation of border regions was particularly emphasized.

Foreign representatives also highlighted topical issues of the Kaliningrad Region as a region surrounded by countries belonging to the Schengen area. It was also suggested to raise visa-related questions during the meetings with the European Commission as often as possible.

During the round table discussion, the suggestion was accepted to promote scientific-educative projects in the Kaliningrad Region, as this could give new impetus to closer cooperation in the future.