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On 28 November, in Kishinev Undersecretary of Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Žygimantas Pavilionis launched the Moldovan-Lithuanian foundation European Integration Study Centre.

 This is already the second European Integration Study Centre, which was launched in one of the neighbour countries. On 13 November, the first centre was opened in Lviv and the third is going to be opened in December, in Donetsk. The centres are being opened by the joint initiative of Lithuania’s MFA and the Institute of International Relations and Political Science of Vilnius University. “I believe that these centers will become the leading institutions for research, teaching, publishing and above all - promoting the construction of a unified Europe,” said Ž.Pavilionis during the launching of the Moldovan-Lithuanian foundation.

After the opening ceremony, the Undersecretary chaired the discussion “Integration into the EU: Moldova’s aspiration and Lithuania’s experience”, in which he emphasized that Lithuania was strongly supported by many foreign partners on its way to becoming a member of the EU and NATO. Therefore, today Lithuania assumes its commitments in helping others following the same road to democracy.

Thus one of the main aims of the European Integration Study Centre is to promote the involvement of Moldova’s society in building internal political consensus on the economic and foreign policies which are indispensable for seeking the EU membership.

It is also expected that this centre will increase awareness not only about the EU, but also about Lithuania as its new member, and this will provide a great opportunity to deepen the co-operation between Lithuanian and Moldovan civil societies.

On 27 November, in Kishinev Undersecretary of Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ž.Pavilionis took part at the conference “Moldova in Europe – Europe in Moldova”, where he gave a speech regarding Moldova’s integration into the EU and met with Moldovan adviser to President Vladimir Voronin, Mark Tkachyuk and Vice-minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova Valeriu Ostalep, and others. They discussed directions of Lithuanian support to Moldavian integration into the EU and plans for 2008, as well as the shortcomings in the implementation of EU – Moldova Action Plan.