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On 18-20 November, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius attended the Sir Bani Yas Forum on the invitation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The annual high level forum in the United Arab Emirates aims to discuss security issues in the Middle East region. The event is attended by the incumbent and former Foreign Ministers, foreign policy experts and business leaders from the Middle East, Europe, Africa, America and Asia. The forum is organized in cooperation with the U.S.-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

This year, the participants of the forum discussed prospects for the United States’ foreign policy, consequences of the termination of sanctions against Iran, the fight against Islamic State and terrorism, Turkey’s role in the region, the Middle East peace process, and other issues.

On the margins of the forum on the first day, Linkevičius met with the UAE’s Foreign Minister, the host of the forum Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan. In the meeting, Linkevičius mentioned the need to exchange high level visits and invited the UAE’s Foreign Minister to visit Lithuania. Lithuanian business opportunities were presented in the meeting and interlocutors offered to more actively communicate in the fields of life sciences, information technology, laser industry, and other areas. The UAE’s Foreign Minister was also reminded of the importance of the UAE certificates for Lithuanian producers of meat and eggs. The UAE’s Foreign Minister took interest in opportunities for investment, tourism, aviation, science, innovation and higher education in Lithuania. Linkevičius called on the UAE to sign the agreement on economic and technical cooperation sooner.

At the forum, the Lithuanian and Algerian Foreign Ministers Linkevičius and Ramtane Lamamra discussed bilateral relations and prospects for their development. Linkevičius welcomed positive cooperation trends, but noted that the countries had a lot of untapped potential for the development of relations, especially in the economic field. According to the head of Lithuania’s diplomacy, the development of economic relations requires a solid legal framework, which would be strengthened with the signing of the economic cooperation agreement, treaties on extradition and on mutual assistance in criminal matters. The meeting highlighted the growing interest of Lithuanian companies in the Algerian market and discussed issues related to authorization of exports of Lithuanian meat and meat products, milk and dairy products to Algeria. Linkevičius presented opportunities for studying in Lithuania. The interlocutors also discussed international issues and stressed the importance of cooperation in ensuring peace and stability in the Middle East region, where Algeria played a particularly important role.

During the conversation with the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, Linkevičius discussed the country’s efforts to move closer to the European Union and Azerbaijan’s strategically important role in shoring up European energy security.

Photos: Linkevičius and the Foreign Ministers of the UAE and Algeria.