Press Release
21 October 2011
Speaker of the Seimas Mrs Irena Degutiene met with the Moldovan Prime Minister Mr Vladimir Filat during his official visit to Lithuania.
The Speaker underlined that Lithuania is always happy to welcome its friends from Moldova and noted that our country is interested in ensuring that all political processes in Moldova are conducted in accordance with the democratic principles.
“In its capacity of the country holding the OSCE chairmanship, Lithuania is ready to help Moldova strengthen its expressed pro-democratic and pro-European stance. Nevertheless, doing so requires political stability in your country and a clear commitment to follow the road to democracy”, Mrs Degutiene noted.
Mr Filat thanked Mrs Degutienë for Lithuania’s support and assistance to Moldova in various fields, especially in addressing the issue of the frozen conflict in Transdnistria.
The Speaker of the Seimas expressed Lithuania's support to Moldova’s ambition for closer cooperation and integration with the European Union.
“The Lithuanian Parliament has been offering training to colleagues from the Moldovan parliament for several years now. We hope that the experience gained in Lithuania will be helpful in addressing the key policy issues. The human interaction and the human experience that we gain as ordinary citizens and not as politicians is of crucial importance”, Degutienë said, pointing out that the Seimas has been running the inter-parliamentary cooperation program jointly with the International Republican Institute (USA) since 2006.
“The training of Moldova’s parliamentarians in Lithuania is very useful, because nothing can be better than personal experience gained from practical rather than theoretical training,” Mr Filat claimed.
During the meeting, it was stressed that European integration objectives should be underpinned by consensus of all the national political forces, including both the majority and the opposition, and that the consensus should be documented and signed by individual politicians. By way of example, reference was made to the accord made last week between the political parties of Lithuania regarding Lithuania’s preparation for holding the EU Presidency in 2013.
Secretariat of the Speaker of the Seimas
Juozas Ruzgys, Adviser to Speaker of the Seimas, phone: 239 6023, 8 698 42073
