Mrs Irena Degutienë,
Speaker of the Seimas, paid a one-day working visit to the Republic of Latvia
(on 18 February) where she had a meeting with Mr Gundars
Daudze, Speaker of the Saeima of Latvia, and Mr Valdis Dombrovskis, Prime
Minister of Latvia. The main items of common interest taken up at the meetings
were energy issues and carriers’ problems.
At the meeting with Mr Daudze,
Speaker of the Seimas noted that when solving energy security problems it is
essential to unite and pursue close and concerted regional cooperation. “It is
only after we have developed a common Baltic energy market and integrated it
into the common EU energy system that we can ensure energy security of our countries”,
Mrs Degutienë said. Equally, the head of the
Lithuanian Parliament indicated that the implementation of the Visaginas
nuclear power plant project is under way, and that concrete steps have been
taken in choosing a strategic investor with sufficient experience and financial
capabilities for the implementation of the project. “We encourage Latvia for
full-fledged cooperation through involvement in the new nuclear power plant
project”, the Speaker of the Seimas said.
The meeting with Mr Dombrovskis
focused on bilateral cooperation in dealing with carriers’ problems. The
Speaker of the Seimas stressed that Lithuanian and Latvian carriers have lately
faced problems, periodically posed by the actions of competent institutions of
the states outside the European Union. According to Mrs Degutienë, Lithuania together with other countries in the
region should more actively seek evaluation of this kind of actions at the EU
level and aim at joint resolution of these problems. The Speaker of the Republic of Lithuania said that “the Latvian-Russian
border forms a part of the EU’s external border; therefore, problems in this
area should be collectively and consistently voiced in the relevant
institutions of the European Union. I believe it would be reasonable to discuss
the matter not only between our countries, but also with Estonia, Poland, and
Finland, as well as hold constant consultations with the European Commission
about likely reactions and a common position of the European Union“.
The Speaker of the Seimas reminded that Lithuania had been successful in achieving the
first results: in late January this year, the meeting of the EU-Russia
Subcommittee on Customs and Cross-border Cooperation held in Brussels adopted a decision to create “an
early warning mechanism” that would enable to avoid similar problems in future.
According to the head of the Lithuanian Parliament, it is equally necessary to
start allotting more attention to the trilateral Customs Union of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan
that began operating in early 2010 and thus prevent possible problems regarding
the Union’s practical operation and
possibilities to use it as an instrument of a protectionist policy.
The visit of 18
February 2010 in Latvia
is the second working visit that Mrs Irena Degutienë,
Speaker of the Seimas, paid abroad. On 14 October 2009, Speaker of the Seimas
went on her first visit to Brussels (the Kingdom of Belgium),
where she took part in the international conference “Europe 70 Years After
the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact”, organised at the European Parliament.
Juozas Ruzgys,
Spokesman to the Seimas Speaker
(+370 5 ) 239 6023, (+370 5 ) 698
42073; [email protected]
