Speaker of the Seimas: ‘Transatlantic relations are important for the security of our region’

Press release, 6 March 2020

Viktoras Pranckietis, Speaker of the Seimas, visiting Washington D.C., United States of America, met with William Keating, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy, and the Environment of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, and Mario Díaz-Balart, Member of the US Congress.

Meeting with William Keating, Chair of the Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy, and the Environment, Foreign Affairs Committee, US House of Representatives. Photo by Olga Posaškova, Office of the Seimas.

Transatlantic and bilateral cooperation as well as regional security challenges were discussed at the meetings.

‘Today, it is crucial for us to maintain and strengthen the transatlantic relations, which also determine the security of our region. We need to respond jointly and expeditiously to security challenges,’ said the Speaker.

Meeting with Mario Díaz-Balart, member of the US Congress. Photo by Olga Posaškova, Office of the Seimas.

During the visit, the Speaker of the Seimas, together with the Speakers of the Latvian and Polish Parliaments and Estonian MPs, took part in a debate on US policy developments arranged by The Heritage Foundation.

In Washington D.C., the head of the Lithuanian parliament paid due attention to historical memory: Mr Pranckietis paid tribute to the victims of communist regimes around the world, laid flowers at the monument for the victims of communism, visited the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, and met with Marion Smith, Executive Director of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.

Debate at The Heritage Foundation. Photo by Olga Posaškova, Office of the Seimas.

At the Memorial. Photo by Olga Posaškova, Office of the Seimas.

The Speaker of the Seimas, together with Emanuelis Zingeris, Chair of the Subcommittee on Transatlantic Relations and Democratic Development of the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs, also met with expat Lithuanians living in Washington, Baltimore, and their environs.

The visit of the Speaker of the Seimas to Washington D.C. was organised to coincide with the visit of Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Latvian Saeima, Elżbieta Witek, Marshal of the Lower House (the Sejm) of the Polish Parliament, and Keit Pentus-Rosimanus, Deputy Chairman of the Estonia-USA parliamentary group of the Estonian Riigikogu, in order to draw the US’s attention to the challenges and current developments in the region. The visit of the delegation was organised at the initiative of Lithuania.

Karolina Frolovienė, Spokesperson to the Speaker of the Seimas,

tel. +370 5 239 6016, e-mail: [email protected]