News

On 15 January during the First Alliance of Civilizations Annual Forum in Madrid, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Petras Vaitiekūnas laid emphasis on the necessity of a dialogue among nations and civilizations and presented the historical experience of Lithuania as a multi-national country. „Being at the crossroads of the East and the West made Lithuania vulnerable to breaches of understanding or confrontations. Establishment of a genuine dialogue among nations requires a universal commitment to human rights and their full application“, said the Head of Lithuanian diplomacy.

The Minister pointed out that from the very beginning of the restoration of its independence Lithuania has been striving that different nations and traditions get along together in the country.

Considering the dialogue among civilizations and cultures an important factor in search of understanding and concord among nations, Lithuania organized a UNESCO conference “Dialogue among Civilizations“ in Vilnius in 2001.

The European Union has declared 2008 the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue. Lithuania contributed to the realization of these goals by its national programmes.

The UN-supported Alliance of Civilizations was created in November 2005. The goal of the Alliance of Civilizations is to consolidate the collective political will for common actions in the effort to reach common understanding and peaceful harmony of different nations, cultures and civilizations, to strengthen the fight against polarization.

Lithuania has been taking an active part in the activity of the Alliance of Civilizations and in 2006 became a member of the Group of Friends of the Alliance of Civilizations. Presently, this group consists of more than 70 countries.

In Madrid Minister P.Vaitiekūnas also met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain Miguel Ángel Moratinos. During the bilateral meeting the ministers shared the positions of their countries regarding the European Neighbourhood Policy, discussed the relations of the European Union and Russia, perspectives of the bilateral cooperation in politics and economy, urgent issues of the EU and international affairs.

During a conversation with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Albania Lulzim Basha, P.Vaitiekūnas expressed Lithuanian support for Albania’s goal to become a NATO member, discussed the issues of bilateral cooperation as well as the Kosovo issue. Minister P.Vaitiekūnas discussed the NATO summit meeting to be held in Bucharest in April and Macedonia’s goals with regard to NATO membership with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of that country Antonio Milososki.

During a conversation with the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines Alberto Romulo, Minister P.Vaitiekūnas invited the Philippines to participate in the Asia-Europe Meeting of Transportation Ministers (ASEM) which is to take place in Lithuania in 2009.

The Minister also met with the former Prime Minister of Spain, the Chairman of the so called Reflection Group, Felipe Gonzalez Marquez, and discussed the perspectives of the activities of this group. The Chairman of the Group pointed out that the Reflection Group was expected to be fully formed before the end of this year.