News

On 15 July in the Šalčininkai district, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Petras Vaitiekūnas met with mayor of the district municipality Leonardas Talmontas and discussed the readiness of the municipality to use the funds of the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument for cross-border cooperation. The use of these funds would encourage cooperation with the neighbouring regions of Belarus, would allow implementing international projects effectively and would bring benefits to the district and to Lithuania. ‘Šalčininkai is the first town in the territory of the European Union, which visitors from Belarus enter. Therefore, this little town has a particular responsibility,’ said the head of Lithuanian diplomacy.

At the meeting with Foreign Minister P.Vaitiekūnas, representatives from the Šalčininkai district community and municipality showed interest in the course of the negotiations with Belarus, regarding the agreement on local border traffic, because this issue is especially important for border residents.

P.Vaitiekūnas and the district mayor, together with the leadership of the administration discussed important issues of the municipality, possible cooperation areas between the ministry and the municipality. One of the possible fields of cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Šalčininkai municipality might be the implementation of the development cooperation and democracy promotion projects. They also discussed the ways to promote cultural cooperation with Belarusian border area municipalities and the city of Lida, as well as the promotion of investment into the region.

During the visit in the Šalčininkai district, P.Vaitiekūnas also visited Jan Śniadecki gymnasium, the Lithuania’s Millennium gymnasium, the estate of Jašiūnai and the Dieveniškės Historical Regional Park.