Upcoming NATO PA to focus on the war in Ukraine and the threats posed by Russia

Press release, 16 May 2022 (more news)

 

On 27–30 May 2022, the Seimas will hold the Spring Session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) to be attended by about 300 parliamentarians from 30 NATO member countries and around 100 representatives from the other 30 partner countries. This Session will focus, in particular, on the war in Ukraine and the threats posed by Russia.

 

This year, the NATO PA’s Spring Session was originally planned to be held in Kyiv, Ukraine. However, due to Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, the Session was urgently moved to Vilnius.

 

The following topics are expected to dominate the Session agenda: the renewed Russian military invasion of Ukraine and allied support to Ukraine; review of the NATO Strategic Concept; and decisions to be endorsed by heads of state of NATO member countries at the Madrid Summit in June.

 

The Session will begin on Friday, 27 May 2022 with a meeting of the Standing Committee of the NATO PA and a press conference of NATO representatives.

 

The press conference will take place at 1:30 p.m. in the Press Conference Hall, Building 2 of the Seimas. The expected participants of the press conference are Gerald E. Connolly, US Congressman and President of the NATO PA; Audronius Ažubalis, Head of the Seimas Delegation to the NATO PA, Lithuania; and Ruxandra Popa, Secretary General of the NATO PA, France.

 

On 28 and 29 May (Saturday and Sunday) meetings of NATO PA committees and political groups will be held. In addition to the above subjects, the following topics will be discussed: lessons learned from NATO’s engagement in Afghanistan; NATO partnerships and the future of the Open Door Policy; challenges to stability in the Western Balkans and the Middle East and North Africa; the growing strategic importance of in Asia and the Indo-Pacific; the continued threat of terrorism; the role and contribution of women to peace and security; cyber security and defence; and strategic trade and corruption challenges.

 

The NATO PA Plenary Sitting will be held on Monday, 30 May 2022.  The welcome addresses will be delivered by Gerald E. Connolly, US Congressman and NATO PA President; Gitanas Nausėda, President of the Republic of Lithuania; Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Speaker of the Seimas; and Audronius Ažubalis, Head of the Seimas Delegation to the NATO PA. Senior representatives of the governments and parliaments of Ukraine and NATO member countries will also take the floor.  

 

Among other documents, the Session is expected to adopt a declaration ‘Standing with Ukraine’.

 

The press conference, committee meetings and the Plenary Sitting will be webcast live on the Seimas website and on the Seimas’ YouTube channel Open Seimas.  Photos from all events will be available at the Seimas’ Flickr account. They will be free for use provided reference is made to the source by inserting the following text: photo of the Office of the Seimas, Olga Posaškova or Džoja Gunda Barysaitė.

 

 

Detailed PROGRAMME (draft)

 

INFORMATION ON THE WORK OF MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES AT NATO PA EVENTS

 

Information on the NATO PA Spring Session on the Seimas website

 

NATO PA website (EN)

 

The NATO PA is an inter-parliamentary organisation in which parliamentarians from the countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation together with non-allied partners discuss key political, security and defence issues in the Euro-Atlantic region.

 

The last spring session of the NATO PA in Lithuania was held in 2014, when our country marked a decade of its membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. Previously, it was organised in Lithuania in 2001.

 

 

Jolanta Anskaitienė, Adviser, Press Office, Information and Communication Department,

 tel. +370 5 239 6508, e-mail: [email protected]