News

On 12 December, a meeting of implementers of the development cooperation and democracy promotion programme and projects was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania.

The Minister said that the Lithuanian development cooperation and democracy promotion programme was an effective tool of Lithuania’s foreign policy and the role of the implementers of the projects was exclusive.

According to the Minister, development cooperation projects not only provide assistance to partner countries, but the choice of Lithuanian institutions and organizations to become the implementers of these projects also contributes to the raising of public awareness of and responsibility for the future of mankind and to the strengthening of public sprit.

The already traditional meeting was attended by more than 60 implementers of the projects this year, mainly representatives from non-governmental organizations, also agriculture, veterinary, and customs, and police experts.

Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Evaldas Ignatavičius presented the best projects of the year 2011.

According to the Vice-Minister, despite the reduced budget of the Lithuanian development cooperation and democracy promotion programme, implementers of the projects were even more active. This year, more than 150 applications for more than 13.5 million Litas were received. Last year, 108 applications for 11.2 million Litas were received.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has implemented the development cooperation and democracy promotion programme for five years. This year, 115 projects worth 4.5 million Litas were financed. The projects were implemented in the EU’s Eastern partnership countries, Afghanistan and Palestine.