Lietuva in brief - 2010-09-23

  • 2010-09-22

Speaker of the Seimas, Irena Degutiene, took part in the meeting of the group Friends of Georgia while in Washington, D.C., reports ELTA. The meeting was also attended by Speaker of the Georgian parliament, David Bakradze. Degutiene expressed the conviction that NATO should maintain an open door policy. “The doors of the Alliance must remain open to all European countries that seek to become fully-fledged NATO members and comply with all requirements,” Degutiene said. She told the participants that the Lithuanian Seimas adopted a resolution on Georgia’s territorial integrity in the beginning of summer this year, and expressed hope that other countries would follow Lithuania’s example and support Georgia and its democratic processes. Elder of the Seimas Social Democratic political party Algirdas Butkevicius and Chairman of the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs Emanuelis Zingeris also took part in the meetings in Wasington.

The European Council on Sept. 16 approved strategic guidelines for the European Union’s relations with Eastern Partnership countries, reports ELTA. “On the Lithuanian initiative, the Baltic and Nordic countries put forward a common proposal to the European Council concerning Ukraine, which was later also supported by Poland,” President Dalia Grybauskaite said. The European Council Conclusions state that it is in the interests of the European Union that Ukraine prepare successfully for the conclusion of a Free Trade Agreement, and later an Association Agreement with the EU. The European Council also emphasizes the need to make progress in the area of human rights in Ukraine. EU leaders also approved their approach towards strategy of relations with Russia, the essence of which is full harmonization of the country, with particular focus on the promotion of human rights and the development of new technologies.