SHARING EXPERIENCE OF DEMOCRATIC REFORMS SHOULD BE THE CORNERSTONE OF THE EU’S DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION POLICY, LITHUANIAN FOREIGN VICE-MINISTER SAYS
At the Foreign Affairs and Development Council meeting on 15 October in Luxembourg, Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Evaldas Ignatavičius called on the European Commission and member states to transfer experience of democratization and reforms to transition countries more actively.
“Lithuania has extensive experience in implementing democratic and economic reforms. Our goal is to transfer our experience and European expertise to partner countries as part of EU’s development cooperation policy. The new cornerstone of this policy must be sharing the rich experience of transition that many EU member states have,” Ignatavičius said at the Development Council meeting.
He stressed the importance of the Joint Communication on EU Support for Sustainable Change in Transition Societies, which was presented by the Commission in October.
According to the Lithuanian Foreign Vice-Minister, Lithuania’s Presidency of the EU Council next year will continue promoting development cooperation, based on the work done by Cyprus and Ireland. Ignatavičius will meet with Joe Costello, Ireland’s Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, to discuss with him the follow-up work.
Lithuania’s Presidency will prepare a common EU position for the Millennium Development Goals Summit, in New York in September 2013.
Development ministers discussed which principles should underpin a comprehensive EU approach to the post-2015 development agenda. They also discussed how best to provide support for sustainable change to the transition countries.
On 16-17 October in Brussels, Ignatavičius is meeting with representatives from EU institutions to discuss with them issues related to development cooperation and relations with Eastern neighbours.
Together with high-level representatives from many European and African countries, the Vice-Minister is participating in the 2012 European Development Days in Brussels, dedicated to fight hunger and poverty in the developing world. Various events discuss such issues as health and social care, the situation of the youth, agriculture, private sector and the impact of innovation on the economic growth of developing countries.
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