News

On 25 March in Vilnius, the Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius met with the Minister of State for Europe at the UK’s Foreign Office David Lidington. The meeting focused on the situation in Ukraine, Crimea and Russia’s actions.

The Lithuanian Foreign Minister was glad that positions and opinions of Lithuania and the United Kingdom regarding Ukraine coincided. The Ministers of the two countries agreed that there was a need for the EU member states to make continued attempts to resolve the conflict as well as a need for the international community’s unified and effective response.

D.Lidington said that Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty provided security guarantees to all members of the Alliance with no exceptions and, if necessary, NATO member countries would act in solidarity in response to third countries’ actions which violate their sovereignty.

At the meeting, the officials also discussed energy security issues, Lithuania’s plans to adopt the euro, cooperation between Lithuania and the United Kingdom in the United Nations Security Council and currently popular debates in the media on the UK’s membership of the European Union.

The Lithuanian Foreign Minister thanked the United Kingdom for its plans to contribute to NATO’s air policing mission in the Baltic States in April 2014.

The UK’s Minister of State for Europe also promised full support for Lithuania’s aim to join the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).