News

On 10 April Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Antanas Valionis took part in the European Union’s General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) meeting in Luxembourg, where the EU Ministers exchanged opinions on the situation after the elections in Belarus and once again condemned violations of free and fair election principles in this country.

The Council urged to release immediately the arrested members of Belarusian opposition.  The list of representatives of Belarusian authorities, subjected to a visa ban has also been confirmed. The President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko is among the persons on the list.

The Ministers repeated their will to strengthen ties with Belarusian people and civic society.

“We are closing the door to the European Union to Belarusian leaders but we should strengthen our support to the society and open the door to the ordinary people, facilitate travelling to the EU, explain the importance of communication,” Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Antanas Valionis said.

The Head of Lithuanian Diplomacy stressed that currently active care should be taken of the victims of repressions particularly the ones who are imprisoned. It is also necessary to use all levels of dialogue with Russia, raising the issue of Belarus.

The Minister urged to avoid restrictions on trade with Belarus, which would deepen international isolation of Belarusian society.

In discussions on the World Trade Organization’s Doha negotiations round Minister Valionis supported the Commission’s attempts to reach balanced and ambitious results of the negotiations round.

According to the Foreign Minister it is necessary to strive for the results of the negotiations to be advantageous for the industry of the European Union, and  to ensure balanced development of vulnerable sectors such as the agriculture.

In the GAERC meeting the Ministers also discussed the results of the Parliament elections in Ukraine, welcomed democratic and free format of the elections and emphasised the importance of further development of relations with Ukraine.

Before the Council meeting traditional meeting of six Ministers of Baltic and Nordic countries took place.