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On April 9, the Lithuanian delegation headed by Foreign Vice Minister Evaldas Ignatavičius took part in the second conference of the EU foreign ministers on the Northern Dimension initiative in Luxembourg. Representatives from 15 EU member states and 7 Northern Dimension countries (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Norway, Iceland and Russia), members of the European Council's Secretariat and the European Commission and other observers, including representatives from the European Parliament, international financial institutions operating in the region, as well as from the USA and Canada participated in the conference. The aim of the conference was to discuss and evaluate the implementation of the Northern Dimension action plan adopted in Feira, Portugal, in 2000, and to draw up political guidelines for further development of this EU initiative. The head of the Lithuanian delegation has delivered a speech at the conference presenting Lithuania's contribution to regional cooperation, as well as views and proposals for the development of the Northern Dimension. The Lithuanian Foreign Vice Minister stressed that Lithuania had been devoting high importance to this EU initiative ever since its commencement. According to Ignatavičius, the initiative itself is developing into an important part of the Union's external policy in this part of Europe.Vice Minister Ignatavičius has mentioned to the participants of the seminar several joint projects, which Lithuania is working on with the Northern Dimension partners. These include the Nemunas River basin management project with participation of the USA, Sweden, Russia, projecting of the power system connection with Poland - the undertaking with clear implications to the Baltic Ring concept, the "Rail Baltica" - the railway connection between the Baltic States and Poland, etc.The speech has put special emphasis on Lithuania's cooperation with the Russian region of Kaliningrad. The Lithuanian Foreign Vice Minister reminded that for Lithuania Kaliningrad - an immediate and natural partner - had been continuously pivotal well before the Northern Dimension action plan was adopted in Feira. Lithuania together with Russia had started the so-called Nida initiative, which is composed of a variety of joint projects. Some of them will be implemented together with Poland, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. The Lithuanian representative has recommended the European Commission to combine different EU instruments (Phare, Tacis and Interreg) in order to finance the Northern Dimension projects more appropriately. Vice Minister Ignatavičius has suggested that the Lithuanian-Russian project to build a cross-border bridge over river Nemunas in Panemunė could become a pilot Northern Dimension project.