News

On 17 October, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Raimundas Karoblis held a meeting with the U.S. congressmen who are visiting Vilnius – the Republicans Bill Flores and Andy Harris – and discussed topical issues of the bilateral Lithuania-U.S. relations, the security situation in the region and the world. In the meeting, the officials welcomed the intensive agenda for relations between Lithuania and the United States of America, exchanged their opinions on the situation in Ukraine, relations with Russia, as well as important economic, energy and information security issues.

A lot of attention was dedicated to the readiness to respond to threats, the economic cooperation between Lithuania and the United States, and the ongoing implementation of energy projects in Lithuania. Lithuania’s Foreign Vice-Minister thanked the U.S. congressmen for the United States of America’s contribution to the strengthening of security in Lithuania and the region, and for the European Reassurance Initiative (ERI) that had been passed by the Congress, stressed the importance of the transatlantic relations, and the need to further strengthen the U.S. leadership in Europe.

“Lithuania highly appreciates the strategic partnership between Lithuania and the United States, and is grateful for the versatile U.S. support to the implementation of security measures in the region,” said Karoblis.

In the meeting, the officials noted that when adapting to a changed security environment, it was important to strengthen not only military defence, but also energy, cybersecurity and strategic communications capabilities. The interlocutors also discussed bilateral trade and negotiations between the European Union and the United States on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

“Lithuania’s exports to the U.S. have grown rapidly. The U.S. is a very important export market for Lithuania, which has already overtaken Russia’s market. Lithuania supports efforts to end the TTIP negotiations in the coming months, but it is very important that the end result would be an ambitious, balanced and comprehensive trade and investment agreement,” said Karoblis.

The U.S. congressional delegation has visited the liquefied natural gas terminal in Klaipėda, met with the Minister of Energy Rokas Masiulis and members of the Seimas (Parliament). On Sunday, the congressmen visited Lithuanian and the U.S. troops in Rukla. In Vilnius, the U.S. congressional delegation will also meet with the Minister of National Defence Juozas Olekas and will participate in a meeting with representatives of non-governmental organizations at the Eastern Europe Studies Centre (EESC).

Congressman Bill Flores is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Chairman of the Republican Study Committee. Congressman Andy Harris is a member of the House Budget Committee. After concluding the visit to Vilnius, the U.S. congressional delegation will head to Ukraine.