2014 

The meeting of the committees and the Swiss parliamentary delegation focused on the OSCE’s role in settling the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and on economic cooperation

Press release, 29 October 2014

A delegation of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federal Assembly (Council of States) of the Swiss Confederation, headed by the President of the Committee, Felix Gutzwiller, made a visit to the Seimas on 29 October 2014. The delegation met with Prof Benediktas Juodka, Chair of the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs; Gediminas Kirkilas, Chair of the Committee on European Affairs; and members of both committees.

Photo by Olga Posaškova, Office of the Seimas.

Prof Benediktas Juodka, Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, expressed appreciation of good bilateral relations, intensifying economic relations and strengthened consular cooperation between Lithuania and Switzerland. The Chair of the Committee underlined that the Swiss parliamentary delegation was paying a visit to Lithuania at a special time for the country. “Lithuania is experiencing significant historical events: we will join the euro area on 1 January 2015 and a few days ago we welcomed the floating liquefied natural gas terminal Independence which is a firm guarantee for our energy independence and, at the same time, for our security,” said the Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Gediminas Kirkilas, Deputy Speaker of the Seimas, Chair of the Committee on European Affairs and former Prime Minister, highlighted that Switzerland and Lithuania had not yet exploited the full potential of mutual economic cooperation. “The trading volumes between the two states are too small; they are smaller than those between Lithuania and its neighbours Latvia and Estonia that are much smaller economically. Therefore, politicians should encourage this cooperation, particularly on new technologies. Lithuania is very rapidly progressing in this area: we have five successful science and business valleys, biotechnology plants, and we are a world leader in the field of lasers. Thus we invite the Swiss business to invest more actively in Lithuania because this will open up a lot of bilateral opportunities,” said Mr Kirkilas.

The Chairs of the committees also emphasised the need for all European countries and international organisations to focus on the events in Ukraine as well as to mobilise support for Moldova and Georgia on their path to Euro-Atlantic integration, because the security and stability of these states are linked to the security situation in Europe as a whole.

Vilija Aleknaitė-Abramikienė, Member of the Seimas Committee on European Affairs and Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), thanked the Swiss delegation for the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship in 2014 and underlined its significant role as a mediator in settling the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. She noted that it was essential to responsibly evaluate severe violations of the commitments by Russia as an OSCE participating State and that it was appropriate to consider whether the current consensus procedure did not restrict decision-making in this Organization. “We are very much counting on the firm Swiss leadership at the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Basel on 4–5 December 2014, which should draw up clear guidelines for the OSCE’s activities in 2015–2016 and set out concrete steps to tackle the current security crisis in Europe,” stated Vilija Aleknaitė-Abramikienė.

Felix Gutzwiller, President of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Swiss Council of States, congratulated Lithuania on its important achievements in securing energy independence and expressed satisfaction with friendly relations between Lithuania and Switzerland in all areas. He acknowledged that economic cooperation really had a lot of untapped potential and guaranteed his support for the strengthening of cooperation. The President also thanked for the positive evaluation of the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship and promised to communicate the ideas voiced by Lithuania to Didier Burkhalter, President of the Swiss Confederation and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office.

Milda Petrokaitė, Adviser to the Office of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, tel. +370  5 239 6835, e-mail: [email protected]