Lithuania to share its experience of European integration with Turkey
On 8 December, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius and Volkan Bozkır, Turkish Minister for EU Affairs, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Co-operation in the Field of European Integration. The Memorandum was signed between Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Turkish Ministry for EU Affairs during the visit of the President of Lithuania to Turkey.
The implementation of the Memorandum will help to specify areas where Lithuania’s support might be used while Turkey is carrying out its judicial, administrative and institutional reforms.
In the meetings with Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and the Turkish Minister for EU Affairs Volkan Bozkır, L.Linkevičius stressed Lithuania’s consistent support for the process of Turkey’s accession to the European Union, welcomed Turkey’s renewed commitments aimed at bringing the country closer to the European Union. The Ministers discussed key areas of the EU-Turkey cooperation: foreign and security policy issues, perspectives of the EU-Turkey Customs Union and implementation of the EU-Turkey Readmission Agreement that came into force this year.
The meetings focused on the complicated geopolitical situation in the neighbourhood of the two countries. According to the Ministers, the cooperation between Lithuania and Turkey within NATO is particularly important at the moment and the countries have to strive to ensure the smooth implementation of decisions taken at the NATO Summit in Wales. As regards Ukraine, both sides highlighted the need to take all possible measures to stabilise the situation in Ukraine. Special attention was drawn to the deteriorating situation of Crimean Tatars.
L.Linkevičius underlined Turkey’s significant role in the coalition against the terrorist group Islamic State (ISIL), especially in addressing problems with Syrian asylum-seekers.
As regards the bilateral cooperation, the Ministers underlined that it was important to strengthen economic cooperation. Lithuania thanked Turkey for its support for Lithuania’s aim of joining the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
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