Press release, 31 January 2013

On 30 January 2013, Benediktas Juodka, Chairman of the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs, met H.E. Dan Adrian Balanescu, new Ambassador of Romania to Lithuania.

The meeting focused on the priorities of Lithuania’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union and preparation for the main events of the parliamentary dimension.

The Romanian Ambassador emphasised that three priorities of the Lithuanian Presidency match those of the Romanian foreign policy, namely the Eastern Partnership, enhanced energy security and effective protection of external borders of the European Union.

Romania has very close historic and cultural relations with the Republic of Moldova. The hope was expressed at the meeting that the European Union – Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in Vilnius will open a new stage in the process of Moldova’s integration into the European Union. The meeting also touched upon the situation in other Eastern Partnership countries.

Benediktas Juodka invited representatives of both Chambers of the Romanian Parliament to attend the meetings of the Committees on Foreign Affairs and on National Security of the Parliaments of the European Union to be organised in the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, in Vilnius, and expressed hope that inter-parliamentary relations between Lithuania and Romania would continue to strengthen. Moreover, the Chairman of the Committee encouraged strengthening ties between the academic and university communities and building bridges between young people of the two countries.

Diana Kopilevič, Adviser, Office of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, tel. +370 5 239 6799