Speeches

Toast by H.E. Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of the Republic of Lithuania, at the State Dinner held in honour of H.E. Valdis Zatlers, President of the Republic of Latvia, and Mrs. Lilita Zatlere

Your Excellency Mr. President,
Madam Lilita Zatlere,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you on this state visit to Lithuania.

Since regaining independence more than twenty years ago, Latvia and Lithuania have both come a long way. I am proud and delighted that last year we celebrated the twentieth anniversary of reestablished independence together: you were in Vilnius on March 11 and I had the privilege to extend my greetings to the people of Latvia on May 4.

This state visit that you are now paying us imparts special meaning to a whole chapter in the development of our nations. In the course of the past ten years, the people of our countries worked very hard and achieved great results in their own and shared fields of interest. We consolidated our independence, we kept close cooperation ties, and we fully established ourselves in the European political and cultural space. Together we have also gone through difficult moments, and we learned from each other how to overcome them.

Your Excellency,

Mūs vieno kopējs gars un vienas asinis - we are united by both spirit and blood - so says the commemorative plaque presented by Latvian students in 1932 to the students of Vytautas Magnus University. Today we can with entire honesty repeat these words.

The business people, scholars and researchers, cultural and public figures, and the communities of our countries are cooperating ever more closely. More joint projects and more joint working - only this will only make us, the Balts, more visible and better heard in Europe.

Your Excellency Mr. President,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

May I invite you to join me in a toast to the things that unite us, to successful cooperation between our two countries. To your and our well being! Uz veselību!