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On 17 April in Paris, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vygaudas Ušackas met with Director General of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Koïchiro Matsuura, other high-ranking officials and heads of the delegations from the member states of the Executive Board. During the meeting with the Director General of UNESCO, Minister V.Ušackas discussed the current and future reforms of the UNESCO. Head of the Lithuanian diplomacy presented to K.Matsuura Ambassador Ina Marčiulionytė who is the joint candidate of the Baltic States - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – to the post of the UNESCO Director General for the period 2009-2013.

In 2009, Lithuania marks the anniversary of the millennium of its name, and Vilnius bears the title of the European Capital of Culture. Therefore, according to Minister V.Ušackas, this is a symbolical and an appropriate time for Lithuania to run for one of the most important posts of education and cultural policy in the world.

Minister V.Ušackas also acquainted the Director General of UNESCO with anniversaries that are nominated by Lithuania: the one hundredth anniversary of the death of composer and painter Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis and one hundredth anniversary of the birth of poet and writer Czeslaw Milosz.

During the visit in France, the Minister also met with Professor of Sorbonne University Françoise Thom and author of “The Black Book of Communism” Stéphane Courtois. During the conversation with the French sovietologists, the Minister presented the goals of Lithuania to condemn the crimes of the totalitarian regimes at the level of the European Union. A possibility was discussed to organize a conference on this topic in France in September, marking the Treaty of Non-aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics that was signed by Josef Stalin and Adolf Hitler on the 28th of September 1939. The agreement included a secret protocol, in compliance with which Lithuania was assigned to the Soviet sphere of influence. 

V.Ušackas conferred ‘The Star of Lithuania’s Millennium’ to Professor F.Thom for her merits of faming the name of Lithuania and disseminating the knowledge about the history of Lithuania in France.

In the evening, the Minister opened an exhibition dedicated to the millennium of Lithuania at UNESCO headquarters. Addressing the guests of the exhibition “Lithuania: Culture and History”, Minister V.Ušackas expressed satisfaction about the possibility to display an exhibition on the development of the Lithuanian statehood at the headquarters of UNESCO – the international organisation, which is well-known in the world for its activities in the area of culture, science and education. While presenting Lithuania’s history to the guests, Minister V.Ušackas quoted Pope John Paul II, saying that the Union of Lublin, which created a single State, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, was an embryo of the European integration.

During the opening of the exhibition, the guests were also welcomed by UNESCO Director General K.Matsuura and Ambassador of Ethiopia Tadelech Haile-Mikael, whose country had also recently celebrated its millennium.