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On August 8, Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Asta Skaisgirytė Liauškienė took part in the session of the 14th World Lithuanian Symposium, which discussed cooperation between Lithuanian institutions and Lithuanian communities around the world. The Foreign Vice-Minister said that fostering relations between Lithuania and its diaspora was the country’s strategic target and new effective measures were needed to meet the target.

“It is strategically important to strengthen ties between Lithuania and its diaspora. We all need to work together - public institutions, non-governmental organizations, private sector representatives, municipalities and, in particular, Lithuanians living abroad - in order to meet the complex demands of diaspora and to successfully implement the policy regarding the relations with the world Lithuanians”,  Skaisgirytė Liauškienė said.

The Vice-Minister pointed out that it was necessary to look for new ways to further engage the Lithuanian diaspora into the public life, because the old ones were not always efficient.

 “We are a diaspora nation, but the difference between the previous  and nowadays emigration waves is that the current situation presents not only challenges, but also completely new opportunities for world Lithuanians to communicate, get engaged in economic, cultural and social life and actively participate in the creation of today’s Lithuania and its future,” the Vice-Minister said.

While presenting the Global Lithuania strategy to engage Lithuanians living abroad in the country’s public life, the Vice-Minister stressed that the development of the network of professionals, also the mentorship programs and traineeships in Lithuania, increasingly popular with world Lithuanians, were crucial for the country and would help transforming the “brain drain” into a productive “brain gain” process.

Skaisgirytė Liauškienė encouraged Lithuanians living abroad to actively participate in the forthcoming Fourth World Lithuanian Economic Forum organized in Chicago in September.

She also thanked representatives of the Lithuanian World Community for their long-term efforts to  preserve the Lithuanian language, customs and traditions, and for their significant contribution to the strengthening of the statehood of Lithuania and wished them to overcome  global challenges, base their activities on ambitious ideas and launch innovative initiatives, engaging  every person who calls himself Lithuanian.

The Symposium is held on 7-10 August in Vilnius. It is attended by over 150 representatives from Lithuanian communities from more than 40 countries.

The first World Lithuanian Symposium convened in New York in 1958. The Symposium adopted a Constitution and elected the first Board. Later, the event took place every five years in the U.S. or in Canada. Since the year 2000, the Symposium has been held every three years in Vilnius.