Press release, 15 April 2016
On 15 April 2016, Loreta Graužinienė, Speaker of the Seimas, met with Marek Kuchciński, Marshal of the Sejm of Poland, as part of her visit to Poland. At the meeting, they discussed strengthening of bilateral parliamentary cooperation, preparation for the Conference of Speakers of EU Parliaments to be held in Luxembourg this May, and issues pertaining to the Assembly of Members of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, the Sejm and Senate of the Republic of Poland, and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to be held in Kiev on 30–31 May 2016.
Photo of the Office of the Seimas (author Olga Posaškova)
Having expressed her gratitude for the invitation to pay a visit to Poland, Mrs Graužinienė highlighted the importance of this meeting and stressed the necessity to strengthen the mutual interparliamentary cooperation. “It is highly important to deepen the cooperation at the parliamentary level, which would allow our neighbourly countries to jointly address key political, economic and security matters. I believe we should renew the activities of the Assembly of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania and the Sejm and Senate of the Republic of Poland,” the Speaker of the Seimas said.
Other relevant issues of bilateral cooperation in different areas were also discussed at the meeting. The problem of regional security and newly emerging threats was also raised, with reference made to the Astravyets nuclear power plant that is being built in Belarus in a non-transparent way.
The Speaker of the Seimas extended an invitation to Mr Kuchciński to take part in the events marking the 225th anniversary of the Constitution of 3 May 1791 of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to be held in Vilnius on 2 May 2016.
On 14–15 April 2016, the Speaker of the Seimas visited Poznań, Poland, where she took part in the events marking the 1050th anniversary of the Baptism of Poland at the invitation of Marek Kuchciński, Marshal of the Sejm of Poland, and Stanisław Karczewski, Marshal of the Senate of Poland. The Speaker of the Seimas took part in a solemn session of the National Assembly of Poland and attended the holly mass in the Archcathedral Basilica of St Peter and St Paul.
The leaders of the Polish parliament note that the 1050th anniversary of the Baptism of Poland marks a particularly significant jubilee in the history of the state and for the identity of Poland. On this occasion, Andrzej Duda, President of the Republic of Poland, proposed convening the National Assembly, a joint session of both houses of parliament, in Poznań on 15 April 2016.
Rosvaldas Gorbačiovas, Senior Adviser to the Speaker of the Seimas, tel. +370 5 239 6005, mob. +370 698 42 071, e-mail: [email protected]
