News

On 10 November in Vilnius, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Andrius Krivas met with a delegation of advisers to the U.S. Congressmen to discuss important issues related to the transatlantic agenda and bilateral relations between Lithuania and the U.S.A.

The meeting focused on security and defence, measures to ensure Lithuania’s national and regional security, possible allied support in this field, also the situation in Ukraine and in other Eastern Partnership countries, energy and information security.

In the meeting at Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry, Krivas thanked the United States for its leadership in implementing decisions taken at the NATO 2014 Summit in Wales. The Lithuanian Foreign Vice-Minister stressed that NATO should switch from security measures to deterrence measures, which would effectively prevent efforts to violate security of the Baltic States or other allies. Lithuania seeks to ensure full implementation of the Readiness Action Plan before the next NATO Summit in 2016 in Warsaw.

The delegation of the advisers to the U.S. Congressmen is visiting Lithuania on 9-11 November at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania. The members of the delegation aim to become familiar with the Baltic Sea region’s security situation, the political situation in the Baltic States and to discuss prospects for bilateral relations. Before the trip to Vilnius, the delegation visited Riga and will head to Tallinn.

During the visit to Lithuania, the advisers to the U.S. Congressmen will meet with the leadership of the Ministry of National Defence of Lithuania, heads and members of the Seimas’ Committee on Foreign Affairs, Committee on National Security and Defence, and the Group for Inter Parliamentary Relations with the United States of America, advisers to the President and the Prime Minister of Lithuania. The delegation will also take part in roundtable discussions at the Eastern Europe Studies Centre, the NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence and the European Humanities University.

On the way to Vilnius, the advisers to the U.S. Congressmen visited the Lithuanian Air Force Base in Šiauliai and met with the contingent of the Hungarian Air Force, which is participating in the Baltic Air Policing mission.

The last visit of the advisers to the U.S. Congressmen to the Baltic States was organized in 2013.