News

On 6 December on Lithuanian Foreign Minister’s Antanas Valionis’ initiative an informal meeting of Baltic and South Caucasus States’ foreign ministers was organized in Ljublijana.

This was the first event of this kind and it aimed at prompting closer cooperation between the Baltic and  the South Caucasian States.

Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Vartan Oskanian, of Georgia – Gela Bezhuashvili, of Estonia - Urmas Paet, of Latvia - Artis Pabriks, of Lithuania - Antanas Valionis and the Ambassador of Azerbaijan to the OSCE Fuad Izmailov attended the 13th OSCE Ministerial Council.

The Head of Lithuanian diplomacy Antanas Valionis stressed that the foundation of the “3+3” initiative is the idea that close cooperation between the states of the region contributes to the implementation of their common interests. According to the Minister the Baltic States would like to share their experience, but not to transfer the Baltic States regional cooperation model to the South Caucasus.

The foreign ministers of the Baltic and the South Caucasian States discussed the cooperation between the South Caucasus and the Euro-Atlantic structures, the South Caucasus States’ participation in the European Union’s neighbourhood policy and activities in the framework of  NATO Individual partnership action plans. Dealing with these issues uniting the South Caucasus States Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia could work together and make use of the Baltic States cooperation experience.

The representatives of the South Caucasus were also interested in the interregional cooperation model successfully implemented by three Baltic States and the EU Nordic countries (NB6).