The Meeting of the Chairpersons of the Committees on Education, Science and Culture and the Committees on the Development of Information Society United in Diversity: Political and Social Development Aspects of EU Languages and Cultures held in the Seimas was opened by Vydas Gedvilas, Speaker of the Seimas; Audronė Pitrėnienė, Chair of the Committee on Education, Science and Culture; and Rimantas Sinkevičius, Minister of Transport and Communications.

In his welcome address, the Speaker of the Seimas underlined that due to the processes of globalisation and increased mobility of people, the importance of the knowledge of languages had grown enormously. Therefore, he believes that not only young people, but also adults have to be encouraged to learn languages. He expressed his appreciation of the EU’s commitment to ensuring rich cultural and linguistic diversity, and noted that EU documents had been translated into all official languages of the EU since the establishment of the EU, and that the EU had been spending substantial funds for the promotion of multilingualism. The Speaker stressed the importance of employing language digitalisation tools in preserving languages and said that “in times of information technology, many languages are facing extinction because of the failure to establish their presence in information technology. Therefore, technological solutions should become the bridge connecting different European languages”.

In her introductory speech, Audronė Pitrėnienė, Chair of the Committee on Education, Science and Culture, thanked the European Parliament for its resolution on endangered European languages and linguistic diversity of the EU, adopted just a few of weeks ago. “We cannot but agree with the appeal of the European Parliament to the Commission to propose concrete policy measures for the protection of endangered languages”, said the Chair. She also congratulated Croatia, which acceded to the EU just a few months ago and thus enriching the list of official EU languages.

Rimantas Sinkevičius, Minister of Transport and Communications, stressed that efficient communication among business and social partners in the European market is impossible without multilingualism and modern means of communication. “The Ministry of Transport and Communications, being responsible for the implementation of the Programme of the Lithuanian Language in the Information Society, has already planned activities related to digital products and resources of the Lithuanian language as well as new technologies, which will not only help accomplish specific objectives, but also address the strategic challenges related to the promotion, teaching, learning and research of smaller languages”, said the Minister in his welcome address.

 

 

Asta Markevičienė, Public Relations Unit, tel. +370 5 239 6202, e-mail: [email protected]