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On 23 May, at the conference ‘Strategic Perspective in the Global World: Grand Strategy of Lithuania’ Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Petras Vaitiekūnas reviewed the main strategic objectives and tasks of foreign policy.

The Minister named the successful integration of Lithuania into NATO and the EU as one of the most important achievements of foreign policy in the recent years and indicated that today the EU and NATO are no longer objectives; they turned into instruments, which should be thoroughly applied.

‘On becoming the EU and NATO members we have set a task to carry out a clear foreign policy, which would defend our interests. We have chosen to become active members of the international community. Therefore, the name of Lithuania in the entire world is more and more often associated with reliability, stability, openness, capability of facing the world globalization and integration challenges, the development of the good neighbourhood and dynamic growth,’ said P.Vaitiekūnas.

The Minister indicated that as the EU member states, we wish and coherently seek to eliminate economic and psychological gap between the new and the old EU Member States as soon as possible.

‘There must be no ‘Business Class Europe’ or ‘Economy Class Europe’. In the area of economy, the evidence of cohesion is bridging the development and welfare gap between individual regions of Europe. In the area of politics we would see the unanimous and coordinated discourse of all the states with the third countries, seeking to guarantee and advance the interests of every EU Member State,’ stressed the head of Lithuanian diplomacy.

According to the Minister, Lithuania’s steps towards upholding the basic EU values, coherently strengthens the EU as a modern global factor.

‘Only a strong Europe, which speaks in one voice, will guarantee vital and reliable transatlantic relations that are most important in order to have a secure and thriving Europe,’ said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, calling the attention of the participants to the significance of the transatlantic relations between Europe and the U.S.A. – the relations, which guarantee our security.

According to P.Vaitiekūnas, it is especially important for Lithuania to have the highest degree of democracy and stability to the East from Lithuania, because it would diminish the possibility of a conflict. Therefore, the spreading of democracy to the East is one of the major keys to the long-term success of the development of Lithuania.

‘After overcoming a difficult transformation, Lithuania itself is becoming sort of  a ‘lighthouse’ or, that is to say, a centre of gravity for cooperation among the regions for Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, which aim at following the footsteps of Lithuania and other Baltic States on their path towards Europe,’ emphasized P.Vaitiekūnas.

Minister P.Vaitiekūnas stressed the importance of relations with Russia, one of the main trade partners of Lithuania.

‘Our relations with Russia are and will always be based on the European values, principles of international law and good neighbourhood. Democratic Russia that is closely related to the EU is a strategic interest of Lithuania,’ stated the Minister.

Speaking about the energy security, the Minister noted that in the area of energy, Lithuania remained ‘an isolated island’ in the EU and it would be difficult to speak about Lithuania’s role in Europe, if the energy systems of Lithuania and the EU would continue to be not interconnected. Building a joint Lithuanian, Polish, Latvian, and Estonian nuclear power plant could become a precedent of a strengthened cooperation in the area of energy for the whole EU.

The Minister named regional cooperation as one of the most important Lithuania’s strategic objectives. Another important area of activity is spreading the interests of Lithuania in the UN, its specialized bodies and other international organizations. Lithuania will face rather big challenges in this area in the nearest future: in 2009-2010 Lithuania will hold chairmanship in the Council of the Baltic Sea States, in 2011 – in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and in 2013 – in the European Union.

‘It is not just a challenge and a responsibility, it is an excellent possibility to formulate and to implement its own priorities first of all in the Baltic Sea region, and later in Europe and Central Asia, and finally, with the means of the EU Presidency in Europe and whole world,’ stressed the Minister.

We relate to our strategic partners and closest neighbours – Poland and Latvia – by means of implementing joint projects of energy and transport infrastructure, by goals of promoting economic cooperation, export and mutual investments. 

The Minister also emphasized the growing significance of Development Cooperation policy and Lithuania’s input in reconstructing and promoting democracy in Afghanistan and the regions of the EU Neighbourhood Policy in the East.

Minister P.Vaitiekūnas claims that one of the greatest challenges, which Lithuania faces today, is massive migration of its nationals. According to P.Vaitiekūnas, it is essential to learn about the needs of the Lithuanian community abroad and to seek to preserve relationship with it. Successful cooperation with the Lithuanian community abroad helps us to form a positive image of Lithuania in the world. This is an important task of public diplomacy.

The Minister was glad that until now the foreign policy could be deservedly called a policy of success and highlighted the important role of the unity of political parties and the Lithuanian citizens.

‘I hope that this unity will endure and form a steady foundation of the Lithuanian foreign policy,’ said P.Vaitiekūnas.

At the conference ‘Strategic Perspective in the Global World: Grand Strategy of Lithuania’, Centre for Strategic Studies and external experts are presenting for discussion the insights of their joint research project ‘The Grand (General) Strategy of the Lithuanian State’.

Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas, Vice-President of the European Parliament Alejo Vidal-Quadras, members of the European Parliament and the Lithuanian Seimas (Parliament), representatives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, National Defence and other ministries and institutions, members of academic community, political scientists, historians, media representatives and many others are taking part in the conference.

The research 'The Grand (General) Strategy of the Lithuanian State' was conducted at the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defence.