Baltic States – CIS, Legislation, Lithuania, Markets and Companies, Russia

Сonsultations between Lithuania and Russia in Vilnius, 1.04.2011. Photo: urm.lt

The officials plan to hold the next meeting of the Commission this summer in Lithuania. The Deputy Minister of Lithuania and the Deputy Minister of Russia discussed ways to mark the 20th anniversary of the Russian-Lithuanian Treaty on the Foundations of Inter-State Relations. The officials discussed issues of the development of nuclear projects in the region, stressed the alarming for Lithuania safety aspects of the planned to be built Baltic nuclear power plant in Russia's Kaliningrad region, the economic and energy feasibility issues of this nuclear object, as well as other issues of energy security and regional cooperation in energy field.

Deputy Minister Ignatavicius gave to Deputy Minister Titov proposals regarding the activities of the future public Trust Forum, which is being established by the two countries. The Lithuania-Russia Trust Forum should become a public platform, covering cooperation in the spheres of culture, art, education, joint exhibitions and publications, academic summer camps, the organization of workshops for artists.

Russia's representative also received suggestions regarding joint projects within the framework of the EU-Russia Partnership for the Modernization, including a cooperation project on the maintenance, renovation and expansion of the Donelaitis Museum in Kaliningrad, and according to possibilities to attract the EU funds for this purpose, as well as the application of the best practices in the fields of the management of border posts, cooperation in the fight against the pollution of the Baltic Sea and other initiatives in the spheres of transport, energy, environmental protection, tourism, etc.

At the meeting, the officials stressed that Russia's Kaliningrad region could become the pilot region of the Russia-EU Partnership for the Modernization.

During the consultations, issues of a common Lithuanian-Russian history and the 70th anniversary of the beginning of exiles to Siberia were also discussed.

The consultations were organized according to the Lithuanian and Russian MFAs cooperation plan for 2010-2011, and as the continuation of the discussions that were held in February during the Lithuanian and Russian foreign ministers' meeting on the same topics.