The High Level Meeting of Speakers of Parliaments of NATO Member Countries will take place in the Seimas on Friday

Press release, 1 June 2023

 

In the run-up to the NATO Summit in Vilnius on 11–12 July 2023, the High Level Meeting of Speakers of Parliaments of NATO Member Countries will take place in the Plenary Chamber of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania (Building 2) on Friday, 2 June 2023.

 

PROGRAMME

 

The invitations to the event have been extended to the Speakers of the Parliaments of NATO Member Countries, the Speakers of the Parliaments of Sweden and Ukraine, and the chairpersons of the parliamentary foreign and security committees of these states.

 

‘At this critical time for European security, Speakers and Parliaments of NATO Member Countries must jointly take active steps, particularly, in strengthening the transatlantic link. I firmly believe that our concerted parliamentary action may have a significant and positive impact on Heads of State and Government who will meet in Vilnius at the NATO Summit in a month’s time. The Alliance needs decisive and inclusive solutions aimed at strengthening NATO’s eastern borders, enhancing defence capabilities, and ensuring Ukraine’s victory and its path towards NATO membership,’ said Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Speaker of the Seimas and initiator of the Meeting.

 

Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen will give a welcome address to the participants of the Meeting, and Gitanas Nausėda, President of the Republic of Lithuania, will make an opening speech.

 

At the Meeting sessions, the discussions will focus on the global challenges and the global NATO, the increase in defence spending, and the strengthening of deterrence and defence. One of the key topics is the long-term support plan for Ukraine.

 

During the three sessions, the keynote speeches will be delivered by Senator Joëlle Garriaud-Maylam, President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly; Talat Xhaferi, President of the Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia; Augusto Santos Silva, President of the Assembleia da República of Portugal; Bärbel Bas, President of the German Bundestag; Markéta Pekarová Adamová, Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic; Ruslan Stefanchuk, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine; Elżbieta Witek, Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland; Gordan Jandroković, Speaker of the Croatian Parliament; Miloš Vystrčil, President of the Senate of the Czech Republic; Edvards Smiltens, Speaker of the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia; and Alina-Ștefania Gorghiu, President of the Senate of Romania.

 

The floor will also go to the representatives of the French National Assembly and the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, the Chairman of the Foreign and European Community Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Republic, and the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the United States of America.

 

The speech by Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO, will be read out by Ambassador Baiba Braže, Assistant Secretary General. Session II will feature, among others, the keynote speech by Ingrida Šimonytė, Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania.

 

On Saturday, 3 June 2023, the delegations will visit the central General Silvestras Žukauskas Training Area in Pabradė.

 

The High Level Meeting of Speakers of Parliaments of NATO Member Countries will be streamed live on:

The Seimas website (in Lithuanian);

The Seimas Facebook account (in Lithuanian);

The Seimas YouTube channel Atviras Seimas at:

- https://youtu.be/vENUVufpPWw in Lithuanian;

- https://youtu.be/_OYmP3-enOY in English;

- https://youtu.be/XkPk1JnJ3e8 in French;

- https://youtube.com/live/MJXtGZoiK4Q in German;

- https://youtube.com/live/hZ4Vy_YeVIk in Polish;

- https://youtube.com/live/pZF58KHx37g in Czech.

 

 

For more information, please contact Ms Snieguolė Žiūkaitė, Head, International Relations Unit, tel. +370 5 239 6221, e-mail: [email protected]