“Lithuania and Croatia are close allies that share views on most issues. We mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of relations between our countries this year. Our ties are characterised by close people to people relations, intense cooperation in the areas of energy and security. We highly appreciate the decision by Croatia to send its military to the NATO enhanced forward presence battalion in Lithuania in 2018,” said the head of the Lithuanian foreign policy.
The ministers highlighted cooperation between Lithuania and Croatia in the EU Twinning Programme. Lithuania implemented 18 twinning projects in Croatia in 2009–2016. Now the countries are ready to join their efforts in transferring their experience to South-East European countries that aspire to EU membership.
As for the Eastern Neighbourhood Policy, both ministers emphasised the importance of EU focus and Euro-Atlantic unity for retaining sanctions against Russia before the Minsk agreements were fulfilled. While discussing the situation in the Western Balkans, the ministers expressed their concern over the growing negative influence of third countries and noted a need to maintain the necessary EU attention and to strengthen public diplomacy.
The Lithuania Foreign Minister had meetings with other highest officials of the Republic of Croatia, i.e. with President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, and Speaker of Parliament Božo Petrov where possibilities of enhancement of cooperation and new trends of its development were discussed.
The Croatian leaders expressed their support for and understanding of Lithuania’s concern with Belarus actions that violate recognised international standards and transparency in developing the Astravets nuclear power plant project. During the meetings, the Croatian officials thanked Lithuania for its support to Croatia in developing its liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal project. Mr Minister underlined that the construction of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal was a direct investment into the country’s energy security, which would contribute markedly to the competitiveness of its natural gas sector, create favourable opportunities to import gas and make use of Lithuania’s readiness to share its particular experience with Croatia. Possibilities of expanding cooperation into other areas, for instance, in developing transport interconnections were considered. Croatia was invited to join the NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence set up on a Lithuanian initiative in Vilnius.
In the Croatian Parliament, Minister Linkevičius had a meeting with Miro Kovač, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Vesna Pusić, Chairperson of the Interparliamentary Friendship Group for Lithuania, and other members of Parliament and stressed the importance of development of inter-parliamentary cooperation.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs had interviews with the Croatian weeklies the Globus and the Nacional during his visit.