News

 On 25 February, an inter-institutional meeting on issues of Lithuania’s membership and activities in the international organizations was held at the initiative of Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Lithuania’s Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Šarūnas Adomavičius chaired the meeting.

During the meeting, representatives from ministries discussed the ways to coordinate Lithuania’s activities in these organizations most effectively, to ensure a well-balanced representation of the country’s interests, visibility and influence in the governing bodies of international organizations.

Vice-Minister Š.Adomavičius drew participants’ attention to the fact that the economic downturn brought the necessity for an especially careful evaluation of existing capabilities and setting clear-cut goals and priorities of Lithuania within international organizations.

In the opinion of the participants of the meeting, one of the most important issues that require an active cooperation among national institutions is the candidacy of Lithuania to the international bodies and delegation of experts. It was agreed to continue closely coordinating the activities of institutions when presenting Lithuania’s interests and priorities in the organizations, of which Lithuania is a member.

Activities in international organizations constitute an important part of Lithuania’s foreign policy. Currently, Lithuania is a member in almost fifty international organizations.

Today Lithuania is carrying out or is preparing to fulfil its international commitments. Lithuania is holding the Presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) in 2009-2010, and the Presidency of the Community of Democracies in 2009-2011. Lithuania is preparing for its Chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2011, and to head the UN General Assembly in 2012-2013, as well as to hold the European Union Presidency in 2013. Besides, Lithuania is a candidate for the UN Security Council in 2014-2015.