Visits

Working visit by President Dalia Grybauskaitė to the Kingdom of Belgium, 29-30 October 2009

On a two-day working visit to Belgium, President Dalia Grybauskaitė met with His Majesty Albert II, King of the Belgians, and with Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy for a working conversation.

Following the meeting with King Albert II, President Grybauskaitė said that His Majesty was fully informed about the situation in Lithuania and its most urgent issues. Being well aware of the importance of energy independence for Lithuania, King Albert II suggested that high profile Belgian energy specialists could provide assistance and training to Lithuanian experts. According to President Grybauskaitė, Belgian nuclear energy, waste incineration and liquefied natural gas technologies would be very useful to Lithuania.

Later on, during her meeting with the Prime Minister of Belgium, Herman Van Rompuy, President Grybauskaitė extended an invitation for participation in open energy tenders to be held in Lithuania. The President said that Belgian LNG technologies could effectively secure alternative gas supplies.

"The transportation of liquefied gas by sea is many times less expensive than the construction of an underground LGN terminal. These are among the most innovative technologies offering extensive alternatives in the event of disrupted supply from Russia. They would allow us to bring in natural gas from other regions. It would be a low investment offshore or onshore project," the President said after her meeting with the Prime Minister of Belgium.

President of the Republic of Lithuania participating in her first session of the European Council strongly defended interests of the Baltic countries and other new Member States of the EU at the commencing discussion among the European leaders concerning the common position to be upheld in the upcoming world-wide meeting in Copenhagen on the issue of mitigation of consequences of climate change.

Talking to the international and Lithuanian media, the President underlined that most of the EU's new Member States shared the view that they should have a lower burden of future payments under environmental agreements to take, especially when it comes to paying for third countries which are biggest polluters.

"Europe is a leader in nature preservation, but for us, Lithuania and other new Member States, the basis on which future contributions are payable is not favourable, especially bearing in mind that Kyoto agreements were made in the nineties. All ongoing discussions are very technical, but we seek to make sure that the burden of payments is distributed among countries as fairly and proportionately as possible with due regard of how much individual countries are able to shoulder, of their current economic capacities, and of how heavily they pollute", the President of Lithuania said.

The European Council also discussed the EU's economic revival plan, the status of external relations, and the situation in Afghanistan, and approved its strategy towards the Baltic Sea region.

Agreements reached by the EU Member States at the European Council open up the way for the development of the Baltic Sea region and give a mandate for the European Union to participate in global negotiations in Copenhagen on responding to consequences of climate change and financing the response.

"I am happy that Lithuania's views concerning fair and objective distribution of the burden of payments have been taken into account and the European Union now goes to the Copenhagen negotiations with a unified negotiating position ," the President of Lithuania said.

According to the Head of State, EU leaders have agreed that the burden of payments to finance mitigation of consequences of climate change will be shared within the EU by having regard to the economically less capable Member States' ability to pay. The concrete mechanism of how this could be done will be determined, as requested by Lithuania, on the level of heads of states by a unanimous agreement.

The European Council has also adopted the strategy towards the Baltic Sea region which provides real possibilities for the region to stand as an example of stability and security in the European Union. Lithuania, together with Finland and Sweden, will lead the coordination of transport and agricultural projects under this strategy.