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On 26 May, during the meeting of the EU’s General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) in Brussels, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Petras Vaitiekūnas and heads of diplomacy of the EU Member States discussed the issue of a mandate for the European Commission to launch negotiations with Russia regarding a new partnership and cooperation agreement. The European Neighbourhood Policy, the issues of Georgia and Afghanistan were also on the agenda. During the session of the General Affairs, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs thanked his counterparts and the Slovenian EU Presidency for their constructive cooperation in discussing the issue of the mandate for negotiations with Russia on the new partnership and cooperation agreement.

 ‘The mandate, which properly reflects Lithuania’s proposals, today was approved by all 27 EU Member States. This document constitutes a solid basis for the future EU negotiations with Russia,’ said the head of Lithuanian diplomacy.   

During the session of the External Relations, the Ministers continued the discussion on Georgia that had started during the meeting of the Council in April. Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs P.Vaitiekūnas suggested that the EU clearly supported the plan of peaceful regulation of conflict in Abkhazia, which was presented by the President of Georgia, and to discuss in which way the EU could contribute more to the regulation of frozen conflicts in Georgia.

The EU foreign ministers positively evaluated the parliamentary elections, which were held in Georgia last week. Discussing the issue of Georgia, Minister P.Vaitiekūnas indicated that the EU should open negotiations with Georgia on visa facilitation and on the signing of a free trade agreement.

The EU foreign and defence ministers discussed important issues of the reconstruction works in Afghanistan. Speaking about the loss of a Lithuanian soldier, the head of Lithuanian diplomacy indicated that avoiding the possible unrest in the province of Ghor, which was held to be relatively calm, and in other provinces, it was essential to develop the provinces in Afghanistan timely and coherently.

‘The international financial support should be distributed more evenly for the provinces of Afghanistan than it is today,’ stated P.Vaitiekūnas. 

During the discussions on the European Neighbourhood Policy, the head of Lithuanian diplomacy supported the suggestions that had been jointly prepared by his counterparts from Poland and Sweden regarding the multilateral cooperation.