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On 20 September, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Antanas Valionis went to the US, where he will participate in the UN General Assembly 59th Session as a member of the Lithuanian delegation, led by Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus. On 20-25 September, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and MFA Undersecretary Šarūnas Adomavičius will participate in the main programme of the session as well as separate bilateral meetings. On 21 September, the Minister will attend a meeting of the EU foreign ministers, coming to the opening of the UN General Assembly Session. The EU foreign ministers, including Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Antanas Valionis, will have meetings of political dialogue with the US delegation, headed by US Secretary of State Colin Powell on 22 September and the Russian delegation, led by Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov. During these meetings, the issues of Middle East, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, relations between the EU and Russia and UN reform will be discussed. In Antanas Valionis’ agenda, bilateral meetings with colleagues from Salvador, Columbia, Tunisia, Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Antigua and Barbuda and Egypt are also scheduled as well as bilateral meetings with officials from the US and other countries. At the meeting with Antigua and Barbuda officials, notes on establishment of diplomatic relations between Lithuania and Antigua and Barbuda will be exchanged. During the meeting with the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, a treaty on cultural cooperation between the two countries is to be signed. It is expected that during the UN General Assembly Session Antanas Valionis will have a possibility to meet the Iraqi Foreign Minister and discuss proposal to train in Lithuania 10 Iraqi officials involved in organising elections. Meetings with foreign ministers of countries, which have not yet announced their support for Lithuania’s candidacy in the elections to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), are also planned. In the bilateral meetings held on Lithuania’s initiative, the Lithuanian officials will seek to ensure other countries’ support for Lithuania’s running for the ECOSOC. In the UN General Assembly 59th Session, which starts this week and ends next summer, elections to the ECOSOC will be held. Lithuania has forwarded its candidacy to this major UN body, where 54 out of 191 UN member states participate. The electoral aims of the country, importance of multilateral approach in international relations ant other issues will be discussed in bilateral meetings attended by Antanas Valionis. The Lithuanian Foreign Minister will also participate in the meeting of ministers, supporting the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.