BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
17/01/2011
Lithuanian and Czech foreign ministers discuss situation in Belarus and other EU agenda items
Petras Vaida, BC, Vilnius,
On January 15, in Trakai, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Azubalis met with First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Karel Schwarzenberg, and discussed with him the situation in Belarus and other items on the current agenda of the European Union, informed BC press service of Lithuanian Foreign Ministry.
The ministers held talks on joint steps in preparing the EU's common position regarding further relations with Belarus. Ministers Azubalis and Schwarzenberg agreed to continue cooperating with an aim to properly evaluate at the EU level the crimes of totalitarian regimes. During the conversation, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic was acquainted with the priorities of Lithuania's Chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2011.
Lithuania's Chairmanship will focus on the fight against internal and external threats in the OSCE space and will seek to promote democracy, the freedom of the media, other human rights and fundamental freedoms, energy security in Europe and to enhance the synergy of regional organizations.
The ministers discussed the agenda of Lithuania's Chairmanship and plans for the conference on anti-Semitism, which is co-organized by Lithuania and the Czech Republic in Prague.
Minister Azubalis congratulated the Czech Republic on being granted the right to host the EU's Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency in Prague. The European Institute for Gender Equality that opened in Lithuania in 2010 has the same status.
The ministers also discussed important issues of energy security and the EU's Eastern Neighborhood and transatlantic cooperation.
Minister Azubalis invited Minister Schwarzenberg to attend the ministerial meeting of the Community of Democracies, which will be held in Vilnius on 1 July.
On 14-15 January, the Lithuanian and Czech foreign ministers took part in the informal meeting of European and North American experts on international and security policy in Trakai. At the meeting, experts analyzed the activities of the EU and NATO, the East-West relations and key strategic challenges that the Euro-Atlantic community would face in 2011.
Source:
http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/baltic_states/?doc=36130
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