News

On 3-4 December, a delegation headed by Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Andrius Krivas participated in an international conference on Afghanistan held in London. 

Foreign Ministers or their delegated officials and representatives of international organisations, who took part in the London conference, discussed progress achieved and the provision of further assistance to Afghanistan, considered the perspectives and significance of regional economic cooperation, identified the major challenges of political, security and development cooperation. Attention was also devoted to the issues of ensuring the rights of women and girls.

During the event the new Government of Afghanistan presented the programme of the reforms and in cooperation with the foreign partners updated the long-term commitments assumed by the Government of Afghanistan and the international community that were approved in Tokyo in 2012 until the year 2017. During the conference the communiqué was adopted in which the Government of Afghanistan and the international community identified the directions of support to be provided to Afghanistan during the transformation decade (2015-2024).

Participating in the event were Ashraf Ghani, sworn-in- Afghanistan's new President, and Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah, members of the Cabinet of Ministers of Afghanistan, British Prime Minister David Cameron, the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Foreign Ministers of other countries or their delegated officials, representatives of international organisations and civil society.

Lithuania supports the reforms being carried out in Afghanistan and joins the efforts of the international community to help the Government of Afghanistan ensure the country’s security and development. In cooperation with the international partners Lithuania is prepared to further provide political, military and civil support to the development of the country. Main responsibility for the country’s future falls on the Government of Afghanistan, further support provided by the international community will depend on its efforts to implement the envisaged reforms and to ensure the security situation in the country.

During his visit the Vice-Minister also met with the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Political Director Simon Gass and discussed the issues of the security policy, the situation in Ukraine and efforts of the international community to resolve that conflict.