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On 28 April, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis welcomed the participants of the regional seminar The New Trade Agenda after the EU Enlargement and underlined the economic and geopolitical aspects of the European Union enlargement, providing this organisation with a unique opportunity to strengthen its influence in shaping the world’s economic policy and to enhance trade cooperation with the Eastern European countries. The Minister drew attention to Lithuania’s trade and economic cooperation experience with the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and pointed out the initiatives, which are of high priority to Lithuania, such as the New Neighbourhood Initiative, meant to improve the political and economic relations of the EU with its eastern and southern neighbours, and the initiative Common European Economic Space, formed in 1999 in the framework of the EU Common Strategy regarding Russia. The implementation of these initiatives, especially establishment of the free trade regime with Russia and Ukraine, would create more favourable conditions for the growth of export and investment in the CIS countries. Lithuania speaks in favour of starting free trade negotiations with Ukraine and Russia immediately after the countries’ joining the World Trade Organisation. Antanas Valionis also underscored the importance of creating a new instrument of European neighbourhood policy, which would allow wider and more flexible possibilities of support for the neighbouring countries. Lithuania’s membership in the EU will substantially contribute to balancing the organisation’s funds designated for cooperation with the countries of Easter Europe, Western Balkans and the Eastern and Southern Mediterranean region. Lithuania suggests allocating the major part of the funds to economic cooperation, cooperation between the border regions, environmental projects and border management. Currently, Lithuania’s trade with the countries non-members of the EU amounts to almost 40 percent of the overall foreign trade turnover, making it one of the highest indexes among the new EU members. Now that only three days left to Lithuania’s membership in the EU, the country makes the last steps in shaping and implementing the independent foreign trade policy. The EU membership is a new challenge for the Lithuanian institutions, which will have to put efforts in order to ensure that the EU common trade policy would correspond to the basic needs and interests of Lithuania’s trade. The seminar for Latvian, Estonian, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Moldovan and Lithuanian foreign trade policy experts on 26-28 April in Vilnius was organised by the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with the World Trade Organisation and the Joint Vienna Institute. Experts from the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations Organisation also participated in the seminar.