News

On 20 October, the Political Director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Rolandas Kačinskas met with the Deputy Assistant Secretary for House Affairs at the U.S. Department of State Laura Rodriguez, members of the delegation of the U.S. Congress advisors and discussed topical issues of bilateral relations between Lithuania and the United States of America, the security situation in Lithuania and the world. The officials also dedicated a lot of attention to bilateral trade, the situation in Ukraine and Russia, and information security.

Kačinskas thanked the U.S. for its leadership in the implementation of security measures in the region and for the European Reassurance Initiative (ERI) that had been passed by the Congress, and stressed the importance of the transatlantic relations, the need to further strengthen the U.S. leadership in Europe, and to relate about Russia’s actions in a principled manner. In the meeting, the officials discussed measures to ensure security in Lithuania and the region, and allied support in this field.

The Political Director also informed members of the U.S. delegation about Lithuania’s concerns over the construction of the Astravets nuclear power plant (NPP) in its neighbouring country – Belarus. The Belarusian NPP project poses a threat to Lithuania’s national security, so Kačinskas underlined the importance of the U.S. support in this regard.

The delegation of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s advisors along with the representatives of the U.S. Department of State are visiting Lithuania and other Baltic states to familiarize themselves with the situation in the region. The advisors to members of the Congress will submit legislative proposals to the U.S. Congress that is heading into the 2016 election in November based on the information about the needs of the Baltic states, the overall security situation, including a fight against propaganda, the threat posed by Russia, energy, economic and cyber security.

The delegation of officials from the U.S. Congress and Department of State is visiting Lithuania on 19-21 October. During the visit to Lithuania, the U.S. Congress advisors will meet with the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defence, members of the Seimas (Parliament) of Lithuania, journalists and representatives of public organizations, and visit the NATO Force Integration Unit in Vilnius. Before visiting Vilnius, the delegation of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s advisors visited the Lithuanian Air Force Base in Šiauliai, also Lithuanian and the U.S. troops in Rukla.