On 19 December 2012, Mr Gediminas Kirkilas, Deputy Speaker of the Seimas and Chairman of the Seimas Committee on European Affairs, met with H. E. Mr Valerii Zhovtenko, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine in Lithuania. Mr Anatolii Starostenko, First Secretary of the Ukrainian Mission in Lithuania, and Mr Rimantas Stankevičius, Deputy Director of the International Relations Department of the Seimas, also participated in the meeting.

The Ambassador and Chairman of the Committee said that it is crucial to renew close inter-parliamentary relations between Ukraine and Lithuania. Mr Zhovtenko and Mr Kirkilas agreed to make every effort to revive the inter-parliamentary activities of the Assembly of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and 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. Besides, there are plans to enhance the activities of the Seimas Group for Inter-parliamentary Relations with Ukraine and the cooperation of both parliaments on the level of European Affairs Committees.

During the meeting, the representatives of both countries expressed the hope that the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement will be signed during the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2013. Energy independence issues were also discussed at the meeting.

Close cooperation with Ukraine and support to Ukraine in its EU integration process are among the priorities of the foreign policy of Lithuania and a task for the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council. The strengthening of the Eastern Partnership Policy, which covers EU integration of such countries as Ukraine and Georgia, is included in the four top priorities of the Lithuanian Presidency.

The EU-Ukraine negotiations on the Association Agreement came to a halt in December 2011 due to Ukrainian problems related to the disregard for democratic and human rights principles and for the rule of law. The renewal of the negotiation process was expected after the parliamentary election in Ukraine this November, but that did not happen because the election was called into doubt as to whether it was democratic. Hopefully, Ukraine will succeed in making the necessary democratic progress so that the Association Agreement would be signed as early as next year. The next EU-Ukraine meeting on negotiations is scheduled for 25 February 2013.

Morta Vidūnaitė, Adviser to Gediminas Kirkilas, Deputy Speaker of the Seimas, Secretariat of Deputy Speakers of the Seimas, tel: +370 5 239 6763, e-mail: [email protected]