Lithuanian president confers state awards to King and Queen of Belgium ahead of visit

  • 2022-10-21
  • BNS/TBT Staff

VILNIUS – Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has signed a decree awarding state decoration of the Republic of Lithuania – the Orders of Vytautas the Great – to King Philippe of Belgium and Queen Mathilde who are due to pay a visit to Lithuania next week.

According to the decree signed on Friday, state awards are being conferred for personal contribution to the development of relations between Lithuania and Belgium as well as political, economic and societal cooperation between the two countries.

The King of Belgium was conferred with the Order of Vytautas the Great with the Golden Chain, and the queen – with the Grand Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great.

The Belgian monarchs will pay a state visit to Lithuania on October 24-26.

The visit will begin with a meeting of King Philippe and the Lithuanian leader.

Later, the Belgian monarch and Nauseda will visit Belgian troops at the training area in Pabrade, attend a Lithuania-Belgium business forum, talk to students at Vilnius University and visit the Old Town of Vilnius.

The king is also scheduled to visit Kaunas, the European Capital of Culture 2022, to take a look at Art Deco architectural heritage and the exhibition at the National M. K. Ciurlionis Museum of Art.

In the meantime, First Lady Diana Nausediene and Queen Mathilde, will on Monday visit the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum.

On Wednesday, Nausediene and the queen will visit the Ukrainian center in Vilnius and meet with Ukrainian war refugees. They are also scheduled to visit Pirmas Blynas – a restaurant in Vilnius with a social mission, hiring people with a disability to integrate them into society.