News

On 29 December during a working visit in Minsk, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vygaudas Ušackas met with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Sergei Martynov and head of the President’s Administration Uladzimir Makey. During the meetings, key attention was given to the development of bilateral economic relations between Lithuania and Belarus and to the relations between Belarus and the European Union.

Minister V.Ušackas indicated that independent, secure, stable and heading towards democracy Belarus was a national interest of Lithuania.

During the meetings, dynamic development of economic relations was voiced. Minister V.Ušackas stated that over ten months of this year, Lithuania’s trade with Belarus had reached 3.1 billion Litas and, as compared to the same period in 2007, the trade has grown by 20 percent. On 1 July 2008, the Lithuanian business had invested 69 million Litas in Belarus.

Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs V.Ušackas suggested organising a meeting of the intergovernmental Bilateral Commission of Economic Cooperation in February the next year, in Kaunas, and the Lithuanian-Belarusian economic forum in April in Vilnius.

At the meetings, energy projects were also discussed. Head of Lithuanian diplomacy informed Belarusian officials about Lithuania’s intentions to purchase electricity from Ukraine and invited Belarus together with Lithuania and Ukraine to form a trilateral working group of experts for solving technical issues of electricity transit.

Minister V.Ušackas requested Belarus to provide him with exhaustive information in the nearest future on the plans to build a nuclear power plant close to the border with Lithuania.

It was emphasized that for the development of bilateral relations it was particularly important to hasten the signing and implementation of an agreement on local border traffic between Lithuania and Belarus.

Minister V.Ušackas also presented the EU Eastern Partnership initiative that was prepared by the European Commission and which envisages a possibility of membership also for Belarus. The Minister expressed trust that Belarus would take this opportunity for drawing closer to the EU, would foster an open civil society and would implement principles of democratic governance. 

In Minsk, Minister V.Ušackas also met with representatives from the opposition parties.

Tonight, Foreign Minister is returning to Vilnius.