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Resumed Session of the Assembly of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopts a joint statement

Press release, 11 November 2022

 

On 10 November 2022, Kyiv, Ukraine, hosted a Session of the Assembly of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, which adopted the Statute and a Joint Statement of the Assembly. 

Photo by Olga Posaškova, Office of the Seimas

 

Ukraine’s becoming an EU candidate country has made the work of this Assembly even more relevant. Therefore, efforts will be undertaken to make this parliamentary Assembly an important instrument and a bilateral framework for providing political and practical parliamentary assistance to Ukraine, which is fighting for its freedom and aspiring to join the European and Euro-Atlantic structures.

 

Žygimantas Pavilionis, Head of the Seimas Delegation to the Assembly of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine noted, ‘I am pleased that all Lithuanian parliamentary parties, both in power and in opposition, are engaged in the work of the bilateral Assembly on an equal footing. This will contribute to further building a national parliamentary consensus on all Lithuania’s decisions to be taken for the benefit of Ukraine, including on further support in the field of defence and on assistance in the reconstruction of the country, until Ukraine’s final victory over the common enemy. However, it will be equally important to muster support of all political parties for mobilising a coalition across a political spectrum in other European Union and NATO countries to advocate for launching Ukraine’s EU membership negotiations next year, as well as for Ukraine’s NATO membership. The coalition will also be important for building further international support, which in some European countries, however, is still much lower per capita compared to that provided by the US, the UK, Poland or the Baltic States.’

Photo by Olga Posaškova, Office of the Seimas

 

It is expected that the delegations, including the newly appointed Head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Assembly, Oleksandr Merezhko, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, will work not only in Vilnius and Kyiv, but also in other capitals.

 

The participants of the Session adopted a Joint Statement thereby stressing the importance of continuing multi-dimensional support by the Republic of Lithuania to Ukraine in these difficult times for Ukraine and European security, and agreeing to further deepen Ukraine-Lithuania inter-parliamentary contacts to enable exchange of best practice and further strengthening of cross-border and intergovernmental cooperation. In the Statement, the parliamentarians condemn Russia’s attempt to annex the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and reaffirm their readiness to continue working together to ensure that Russia fully and unconditionally withdraws all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine and to restore Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty within its internationally recognised borders, extending to its territorial waters. At the same time, the Statement calls on the international community to continue providing political, economic, financial, humanitarian, military and other forms of assistance for as long as it takes to achieve victory over the aggressor.

 

The Assembly of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine was established in 2003 with an emphasis on the need to strengthen inter-parliamentary relations between Lithuania and Ukraine and the need to discuss topical matters in international relations. On 21 June 2022, Žygimantas Pavilionis was appointed Head of the Seimas delegation to the Assembly.

 

Under the revised Statute of the Assembly, each national delegation will be composed of 20 parliamentarians.

 

Milda Žvinienė, Adviser, International Relations Unit, Office of the Seimas, tel. +370 5 239 6220, e-mail: [email protected]