News

On 2 March in Kaliningrad, during the first meeting of chairmen of the bilateral councils between Lithuania, Poland, Belarus and Russia’s Kaliningrad Region, issues of cooperation of the four countries in the areas of transport, energy, development of border crossing infrastructure and citizens’ travels were discussed.

At the meeting, head of Lithuania’s delegation, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Evaldas Ignatavičius stressed that at a city and regional level this four-lateral format had to continue implementing previously launched initiatives, to which the European Union’s Eastern Partnership programme and regional EU-Russia cooperation provided new possibilities.

Vice-Minister E.Ignatavičius highlighted that it was important to start the synchronization of the functioning of region’s energy systems as soon as possible, and to coordinate activities when attracting more cargo to the seaports of the countries.

According to the Vice-Minister, when aiming at a more active cooperation of the countries in the region, it was necessary to solve issues of increasing the capacity of border crossing points and facilitation of citizens’ travels.

At the meeting, the Vice-Minister also presented an initiative to organise in summer 2010 a youth camp for people from Belarus, Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine and other countries of the region. At the camp, youths would discuss the common history of the region and future perspectives in Europe.

It was decided to hold meetings of this format every year. The next meeting will be held in Belarus in 2011.