Speeches

Word of Welcome by President Dalia Grybauskaitė to the Participants of the Third Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine

Dear Parliamentary Speakers, Members of Parliament, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I welcome all of you who have gathered here for the Third Session of the Lithuanian-Polish-Ukrainian Parliamentary Assembly.

2010 is a special year for Lithuania, for the three Baltic states and for this assembly. It not only marks the fifth anniversary of the Trilateral Parliamentary Assembly, but also celebrates the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Žalgiris - a proud anniversary that we commemorated in July with all our countries represented in the jubilee events.

In this session, the assembly has placed its focus on energy security which overshadows many other issues in terms of urgency and importance. It is only by working together and by finding new effective solutions to secure energy supplies and use that we will establish real energy independence for our countries, while at the same time ensuring their political independence. It is even more important now that we are going through an economic downturn.

Investing into energy security does not provide immediate results. However, I am deeply convinced that our continued long-term focus on energy projects means investment into the national security of each of our countries as well as the security and stability of the entire region for decades to come.

I am very pleased that the assembly sittings are open to the general public. Without experts and the academic community, without the support of people who use energy every day, and without raising their awareness and engagement in such debates, we can hardly expect to translate our energy goals into reality.

Once again, welcome to Lithuania. I wish you all open, interesting and useful discussions.