Third Energy Package: dispute between Russia and the EU
During the visit in Brussels on 24 February, Vladimir Putin tried to push own energy policy model to the EU. Negotiations were indeed very difficult and parties didn’t manage to coordinate their positions. But the EU’s third internal energy market package took effect on 3 March. READ MORE
Discussing nuclear energy
VILNIUS - The tragedy of Japan, including the nuclear accident in Fukushima, got an immediate response from Lithuanian hearts. Over 200,000 litas (58,000 euros) in donations, mostly via calls to charity phone numbers, were collected by ordinary Lithuanians during the first five days after the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, and the charity action continues. That sum from the first five days is almost equal to the Lithuanian government’s help in blankets and sleeping-bags for Japan. READ MORE
Grybauskaite: Assistance of Sweden Is Highly Important for Lithuania
The President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite held a meeting with the Prime Minister of Sweden Fredrik Reinfeldt during which she underlined that Sweden is one of the main economic partners of Lithuania and the second biggest foreign investor in the country. READ MORE
Results of the local government elections in Lithuania as a test of the mood before parliamentary elections
According to preliminary results, most votes in the local elections of 27th February were won by the opposition social democrats – 21.4%. The left for the past three years have been criticising the policy of governing the conservatives/Christian democrats and of the extremely unpopular prime minister and the party leader Andrius Kubilius. Victory for the left, however, is not overwhelming. READ MORE
LITHUANIA AND NORWAY AIM TO INTENSIFY POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC RELATIONS
Lithuania and Norway foster similar foreign policy objectives and aim to intensify bilateral political and economic relations. This was agreed on 8 March in Vilnius, by Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis and Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. READ MORE
Lithuanian-Polish cooperation on strong track
President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė and President of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski, who arrived in Lithuania to participate in February 16 commemoration events, discussed economic and cultural cooperation. READ MORE
CO-ORDINATED UN, OSCE ACTION KEY TO ADDRESSING REGIONAL SECURITY CHALLENGES
UNITED NATIONS, 15 February 2011 – The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Ažubalis, outlined the goals of the country’s 2011 OSCE Chairmanship and highlighted common challenges faced by the OSCE and UN in an address to the UN Security Council today. READ MORE
Experts: Lithuania Is the Only Baltic State with Ambitions
Russia has no long-term strategy concerning Lithuania and Baltic states in general. Energy and history – these are two issues, which could become a platform for relations development. These are the ideas of the experts of Russian Center Carnegie Andrey Riabov, Lilia Shevtsova and Maria Lipman. According to the experts, among Baltic states only Lithuania has ambitions within not only regional level, but whole Europe. After the meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister of Lithuania Audronius Ažubalis, experts answered the questions of Lithuanian reporters. READ MORE
Lithuania Assumes the Chairmanship of the OSCE
Chairing the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 2010, Kazakhstan showed that it is possible to bring a successful chairmanship to a failing organization. Prerequisites to a successful chairmanship include strong motivation as the starting point; ambition to demonstrate a young state’s national competence at the international level; and carefully calculated initiatives which, even if thwarted in the veto-bound OSCE system, become reference points in the organization’s annals as sound and creative responses to major challenges. READ MORE
New OSCE Chairperson calls for joint commitment to resolve existing conflicts in a peaceful and negotiated manner
The new OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Ažubalis, urged the Organization's participating States to focus on resolving existing conflicts and achieving concrete progress in addressing transnational threats and safeguarding fundamental freedoms in his inaugural address to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna . READ MORE
