News

On 8-10 December, Lithuania’s Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Evaldas Ignatavičius and officials of the United Kingdom, as well as representatives from nongovernmental organizations discussed foreign and European policy issues that are the most important for both countries. In London, the Vice-Minister met with Minister for Europe of the United Kingdom Chris Bryant and other high-ranking officials from the UK Foreign Office. During the conversations, the development of bilateral relations and opening possibilities were assessed.

The Vice-Minister and representatives from the United Kingdom agreed to hold regular political consultations within 3+1 format (the Baltic States and the United Kingdom), which would  contribute to the strengthening of bilateral relations. Minister Ch.Bryant suggested organising a discussion forum, which would join together Lithuanian and UK experts for the discussions on important issues of energy and economic cooperation.

The Vice-Minister spoke with UK’s Member of Parliament, representative to NATO’s Wise Men group Geoff Hoon about strengthening NATO and the relations between this organisation of collective defence and Russia. G.Hoon noted that when revising the NATO Strategic Concept, the Article No.5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which is considered to be the heart of collective defence, had to be even more emphasized.

The Vice-Minister and representatives from the UK Foreign Office and the Department for International Development agreed to deepen the relations between Lithuania and the United Kingdom in the area of development cooperation, aiming to implement the European Union’s “Twinnings” and other development cooperation projects in Moldova and Ukraine. During the conversations, interlocutors decided to hold a joint Lithuanian-UK conference on Moldova in 2010.

During the visit, a lot of attention was dedicated also to the EU institutional reform after the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon. The creation of the future EU diplomatic service, the important issues of the EU and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the forthcoming Lithuania’s chairmanship of the organization in 2011 were also discussed.

At the Lithuanian Embassy in the United Kingdom, Vice-Minister E. Ignatavičius also took part in the discussion with experts from the UK-based research centres: Chatham House, the Economist Intelligence Unit, and the European Council on Foreign Relations. The experts got acquainted with Lithuania’s attitude towards today’s most important issues of international relations.