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THE LETTER OF THE US SECRETARY OF STATE SUPPORTS EFFORTS OF THE GOVERNMENT OF LITHUANIA

The United States strongly supports efforts of the Government of Lithuanian to advance energy diversification and energy security in the Baltic region, reads the letter of the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Ažubalis.

The letter also emphasizes the U.S. support to the development of the nuclear power plant in Visaginas in cooperation with regional partners Latvia, Estonia and Poland.

“I am delighted that serious discussions are underway with U.S. industry,” H.Clinton wrote in the letter.

The U.S. Secretary of State also announced that she accepted the invitation of the Lithuanian Foreign Minister to take part in the Community of Democracies Ministerial in Vilnius on June 30 and July 1. The events will be the culmination of Lithuania’s Presidency of the Community of Democracies.

Presidents of other eight countries, heads of parliament and government have already confirmed their participation in the events.

On 30 June, the Office of the President will host a high level women’s leadership conference “Women Enhancing Democracy: Best Practices”, which is to be opened by President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of Finland Tarja Halonen  and the U.S. Secretary of State.

The event is organized by Lithuania’s Presidency of the Community of Democracies in cooperation with the Council of Women World Leaders, Vilnius-based European Institute for Gender Equality, the U.S. Department of State, European and U.S. non-governmental organizations.

Participants at the conference will discuss ways and means to increase women’s participation in the public sphere. Among the topics of the event there are: the promotion of women’s economic independence, combating violence against women and trafficking in human beings, as well as engaging media to make women’s voices heard.

On 1 July, the sixth ministerial conference of the Community of Democracies will take place at the Lithuanian Exhibition and Convention Centre LITEXPO. The conference will focus on strengthening of the Community of Democracies and enhancing its activities. A special attention will be given to emerging democracies and public involvement in governance.

At the meeting in Vilnius, which is expected to be attended by about 900 participants, Lithuania will officially hand over the two-year Presidency of the Community of Democracies to Mongolia.

On June 29 and July 1 in Vilnius, the Young Leaders Forum “Young Leaders in Democracy Promotion Process: Challenges and Possibilities”, Parliamentary Forum of the Community of Democracies “The Road to Democracy: Role of the Community of Democracies’ Parliamentary Forum”, and the first session of the Corporate Democracy Forum will take place as well.

The Community of Democracies unites almost one hundred and fifty democratic and democratizing countries around the world. The Community of Democracies is based on the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Warsaw Declaration of 2000.
 
 
URM
 
 
02.05.2011