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Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs participating in the UN General Assembly 59th Session in New York as a member of delegation led by the Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus met the foreign ministers of Tunisia, Salvador and Columbia. During the talks, which took place on 21 September on Salvador and Columbia’s initiative, prospects of cooperation between Lithuania and the mentioned states after the country’s accession to the European Union (EU) were discussed. Salvadorian Foreign Minister Francisco Lainez and Columbian Foreign Minister Maria Carolina Barco Isakson expressed hope that the new members of the EU including Lithuania would support the striving of the Latin American states to develop relations with the European Union, firstly in the area of free trade. At the meeting with Tunisian Foreign Minister Habib Ben Yahia on 22 September, Antanas Valionis discussed the progress of bilateral cooperation after the first official visit to Tunisia by the Lithuanian Foreign Minister last year. The Ministers underlined the importance of exchanging business delegations. Antanas Valionis encouraged Habib Ben Yahia to visit Lithuania together with a group of Tunisian businessmen. The participants of the conversation also discussed topical regional issues, related to Iraq and the Middle East crisis. The Tunisian Minister of Foreign Affairs underscored intentions of his country to further intensify cooperation with the European Union and to use the possibilities provided by the new neighbourhood policy to this purpose. He also welcomed the principle of differentiation presupposed in this policy, which authorises partner states seeking for more intense cooperation and integration into the EU to develop deeper and more dynamic relations with this organisation. Habib Ben Yahia also expressed hope that the tenth anniversary of the Barcelona process, covering the EU and Mediterranean countries, to be mentioned next year would be a good opportunity to activate and update this process. On the same day, Antanas Valionis met US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Elisabeth Jones. At the meeting, the officials discussed topical issues of Lithuania’s regional leadership and regional policy as well as prospects of democracy spread in the eastern neighbours of Lithuania. In New York, Antanas Valionis is also scheduled to meet colleagues from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt and Antigua and Barbuda. During the meeting with the Egyptian Foreign Minister, a cultural cooperation treaty between the two countries is to be signed, whereas at the meeting with Antigua and Barbuda officials it is expected to establish diplomatic relations with this Caribbean state.