BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

02/11/2010

Lithuania and Germany discussed EU's relations with Russia and Belarus

Petras Vaida, BC, Vilnius,

President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite received German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Guido Westerwelle, who is currently visiting Lithuania. The President and the Minister discussed bilateral cooperation between Lithuania and Germany, the EU's energy policy and the issue of energy independence of the region, the European Union's external policy and the EU's relations with Russia and Belarus.

"Lithuania and Germany are successfully strengthening their strategic dialogue on most important issues of bilateral cooperation, the European Union and NATO. In September, I met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Vilnius. Today, we saw the second visit of a top-rank German official in Lithuania. Our state highly appreciates German support in addressing the issue of energy independence of the region and implementing concrete security guarantees for the Baltics," President Dalia Grybauskaite said.

According to the President, one of the best outcomes of Lithuanian-German bilateral cooperation is higher volumes of freight transportation from Germany and other countries to Afghanistan through Lithuania, which brings additional income to the Lithuanian budget and Lithuanian businesses, reported BC presidential press service.

In the discussion on the EU's external policy and the EU's relations with Russia, President Dalia Grybauskaite underlined that Lithuania was an advocate of a constructive, reciprocal and united dialogue between Europe and Russia.

Another issue discussed in the meeting was Lithuania's preparedness for the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) next year. As the German Minister for Foreign Affairs intends to visit Belarus, the President also briefed him on the results of her recent working visit to Minsk.

Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle of Germany, which is a supporter of tight fiscal discipline, has praised Lithuania for a consistent fiscal policy. "We value Lithuania especially for being a consistent partner in the policy of stability in the European Union and its consistent steps in reforming the state budget," Westerwelle said in a news conference in Vilnius on Tuesday. The head of the Lithuanian diplomacy noted that a stable currency was an especially important condition to draw foreign investment. "We are members of the euro area, and Lithuania is on its way to the euro area. Thus, we are very interested that your country would have a stable currency as precisely the stability of the currency is a pre-condition for high foreign investment," Westerwelle said.

Source:

http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/baltic_states/?doc=33439


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