News

On 10 February at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, representatives from the Seimas (Parliament) of Lithuania, the Office of the President and the Office of the Government, Ministries, other agencies, universities and educational institutions were acquainted with the working principles of the programme “Lithuania’s Participation in the Twinning Programme of the European Union” and the role of Lithuanian institutions in the implementation of the programme.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, as the institution that coordinates the EU Twinning Programme in Lithuania, organized the event that was attended by more than 150 representatives from various Lithuanian institutions.

According to Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Evaldas Ignatavičius, the obviously increased interest in this EU programme is reflected in the implementation results: in 2010 Lithuanian institutions were chosen for implementation of the EU Twinning Programme five times (and twice in 2009).

Izolda Bričkovskienė, Director of the Foreign Ministry’s Development Cooperation and Democracy Promotion Department that coordinates the EU Twinning Programme, emphasized the expanded geography of participation by Lithuanian institutions in the EU Twinning projects.

“Some institutions just break away from the traditional circle of Eastern Neighbourhood countries and submit project proposals in new regions, for example, in Jordan,” I.Bričkovskienė said.

General and targeted training for representatives of various Lithuanian institutions, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was also presented at the event. The Lithuanian Institute of Public Administration will provide the training.

Discussions focused on the regulation of participation in the EU Twinning Programme, motivation and other relevant issues.

On 15 September 2009, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs took over functions of the EU Twinning Programme coordination from the Office of the Government. So far, 16 EU project proposals submitted by Lithuanian institutions have been chosen for implementation.

The EU Twinning Programme is one of the EU’s development cooperation programmes, participants of which may be only public or semi-public institutions. The programme is essentially earmarked for public administration institutions capacities development in the EU’s neighbouring countries.