Permanent Mission of Lithuania to the United Nations in New York
Minister Linkevičius: We have great opportunities to develop cooperation between countries in Baltic, Adriatic, and Black Sea regions
Created: 2015.09.30
/ Updated: 2015.10.01 00:53
On 29 September, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius continued his visit to New York, where a general debate of the General Assembly of the United Nations takes place this week, Lithuania’s Foreign Minister gave a speech in the first Adriatic-Baltic-Black Sea Leaders’ Meeting. The event was held on the initiative of the President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and focused on opportunities to strengthen cooperation between these countries.
“The Baltic states can set a perfect example for the Adriatic and Black Sea regions of how to strengthen regional cooperation and create a common market in the context of economic and administrative reforms,” said Linkevičius.
According to the head of the Lithuanian diplomacy, the Adriatic, Baltic and Black Sea regions have many opportunities to deepen their political cooperation and to coordinate actions more closely, in particular in the fields of energy and transport: exchanging experiences in diversifying energy supplies, creating an integrated European energy market and more actively developing the North-South Transport Corridor. For example, the countries in the Adriatic and Black Sea regions could take more interest in Lithuania’s experience in implementing the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal project, which has significantly increased the country’s energy security, has helped reduce geopolitical risks and has given impetus to create the gas market in the Baltic Sea region.
The Adriatic-Baltic-Black Sea Leaders’ Meeting was attended by representatives from 12 EU member states: the Presidents of Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Poland, the Foreign Ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, as well as representatives to the UN of Slovenia and Austria.
