News

On 30 June in Vilnius, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis and the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is taking part in the events of the Community of Democracies, talked with representatives of civil society and exchanged opinions on the issues of bilateral cooperation.

A.Ažubalis and H.Clinton discussed the need to promote further spread of democracy and to strengthen support for democratic changes in Belarusian society.

The head of the Lithuanian diplomacy acquainted the U.S. Secretary of State with current issues of the Presidency of the Community of Democracies and of the Chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and once again stressed the importance of the U.S. presence in Europe.

“I am glad that the initiative of strategic dialogue that is very important for the promotion of democracy and that was launched during my visit to Washington, D.C., in February, is continued also in these days, during the visit of the Secretary of State to Vilnius. Both as a foreign minister and as the OSCE Chairman-in-Office working in Lithuania and abroad, I regularly meet representatives of non-governmental organizations, youth and democratic movements, and dissidents from various countries. The House of United Belarus (HUB) was opened on 28 June in Vilnius. This is another important step towards the strengthening of democratic society in the region,” A.Ažubalis said.

The U.S. positively evaluates Lithuania’s Presidency of the Community of Democracies and the Chairmanship of the OSCE, and speaks in support of Lithuania’s energy security projects. Lithuania and the United States intend to continue to closely cooperate in ensuring mutual military and energy security.

The participants of the meeting viewed a video with the address of fighter for human rights from Myanmar/Burma Aung San Suu Kyi, thanking Lithuania for its activities when holding the Presidency of the Community of Democracies. As Aung San Suu Kyi stated in her address, this politician was released when Lithuania was at the head of the Community of Democracies, and vigorous activities of the Community of Democracies had a positive impact on the democratic process in Myanmar/Burma.

On the occasion of ending Lithuania’s Presidency of the Community of Democracies, Vilnius hosts international events dedicated to the development of democracy from June 28 to July 1. These events focus on new democracies and civil society. About 1000 guests from foreign countries are attending the Ministerial Conference of the Community of Democracies, high-level women world leaders’ conference, youth forum, parliamentary forum, corporate democracy forum and civil society forum.