L-R: Ingrida Šimonytė, Lithuania's Prime Minister; Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg's Prime Minister;
Credit: Luxembourg's Ministry of State
On Monday 5 and Tuesday 6 September 2022, Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, together with the Minister of Justice and Minister of Culture, Sam Tanson, paid an official visit to Vilnius, at the invitation of the Lithuanian Prime Minister.
The Luxembourgish ministers met Lithuania's President Gitanas Nausėda and Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė, as well as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gabrielius Landsbergis, during this visit, which was part of the 30th anniversary of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Luxembourg and Lithuania.
During these meetings, the ministers pledged to further strengthen bilateral cooperation and identified some areas of common interest.
Discussions also focused on the war in Ukraine and all that it implies for the European continent in terms of security policy and energy supply. Prime Minister Bettel once again highlighted Luxembourg's solidarity with the Ukrainian people as well as the support it offers to neighbouring countries, including Lithuania and the Baltic states more generally.
In this context, the two Luxembourgish ministers visited the contingent of the Luxembourg Army deployed within NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence (EFP) at the Rukla military base.
Minister Tanson also had an interview with her Lithuanian counterparts, Ewelina Dobrowolska, Minister of Justice, and Simonas Kairys, Minister of Culture.
At the centre of the discussions between the justice ministers were in particular cooperation in the field of human rights, the fight against violence against women as well as the preparation of the OECD ministerial meeting on strengthening democracy, chaired by Luxembourg and co-chaired by Lithuania, in November 2022.
Finally, the Luxembourg delegation went to Kaunas, European Capital of Culture 2022. On the agenda was a visit to an interactive artistic installation around the Lithuanian history during the half of the 20th century called "Out of Darkness", as well as a tour of Lithuania's largest Baroque-style monastery.
