Three Vice-Ministers assume office at the Foreign Ministry
On 3 October, three Vice-Ministers - Audra Plepytė, Sigitas Mitkus, and Vidmantas Verbickas - assume office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Vice-Minister Audra Plepytė began her career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1994. Plepytė has served as Lithuania’s Ambassador to the United States, at the Permanent Mission to the United Nations, and in Spain. She has been awarded the Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania, the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit (Knight), and in 2025 received the award of the Ukrainian National Information Service. Plepytė graduated from Vilnius University with degrees in international relations and philosophy, and studied diplomatic relations at the University of Oxford. The Vice-Minister Plepytė will oversee transatlantic cooperation and security issues.
The Vice-Minister Sigitas Mitkus has worked in the diplomatic service for almost thirty years. The diplomat participated in negotiations for Lithuania’s accession to the EU, served as Counselor at the Permanent Representation of Lithuania to the European Union, Deputy Director and Director of the European Union Department, Director of the Financial Markets Policy Department at the Ministry of Finance, headed Lithuania’s delegation in negotiations on membership in the OECD Committee on Financial Markets, was a member of Insurance and Private Pensions committees, and a foreign policy adviser to the President of Lithuania, Gitanas Nausėda. Mitkus holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the Faculty of Economics of Vilnius University and completed a traineeship at the National School of Administration in Paris. The Foreign Vice-Minister will oversee the development and implementation of EU policy, relations with EU institutions.
Vice-Minister Vidmantas Verbickas has almost thirty years of experience in the diplomatic service. The diplomat specializes in economic diplomacy and issues economic and energy security . He coordinated the network of Lithuanian diplomatic missions, consulates, business institutions, tourism missions, honorary consuls, and members of the diaspora operating in the United States, which aims to promote Lithuanian exports, attracting foreign investments, strengthening economic ties, and enhancing Lithuania's image abroad. Verbickas has served in Lithuanian diplomatic missions in Warsaw, Chicago, and Minsk. He holds degrees in engineering and management from Kaunas University of Technology, and has completed internships at the Spanish Center for Commercial Studies in Madrid and the Economic Research Institute of the Economic Planning Agency in Japan. Vice-Minister Verbickas will be responsible for economic diplomacy and economic security.
Aistė Stakėnienė will continue to serve as Chancellor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She previously worked as Head of the Personnel and Finance Division at the State Security Department and led the Personnel and Document Management Division at Lithuanian National Radio and Television. Stakėnienė holds a bachelor’s degree in management and business administration and a master’s degree in human resource management from Vilnius University’s Faculty of Economics.