Lithuania supports Estonia's idea regarding Baltic electronic identification, and approves further actions in this regard. According to the Prime Minister, closer co-operation on this issue will help achieve the goals and meet the commitments for the European Union.
The most controversial was the Rail Baltica issue. The Baltic Council of Ministers discussed the intergovernmental agreement, a joint company and a request for project funding from the European Union institutions. The Prime Minister reiterated the importance of including Vilnius into the project.
"I would like to point out that Lithuania is interested and is strongly committed to the implementation of the Rail Baltica project. Experts do their utmost to resolve all the issues. I would like to note that it is important to submit a joint application from the Baltic states to the CEF (Connecting Europe Facility) by the year 2016. The project should respond to the interests of all the participating states, including Lithuania. Therefore, it is important to emphasize that, as agreed in the Joint Statement, Vilnius intersection is to be treated as an integral part of the Rail Baltica railway and infrastructure development", – said the Prime Minister. The Joint Statement was signed by the Ministers of Transport in September 2013.
The Prime Minister also has noted that, as endorsed by the Prime Ministers in 2011, the AECOM study, raises an objective to link all the Baltic capitals, which also suggests Vilnius, only then the project will have a positive impact on the economic growth of the entire Baltic region.
The AECOM study recommends for the red route for Rail Baltica to be studied further, while through a detailed cost -benefit analysis, looking for the best way to include Vilnius.
"We are going to have a cost-benefit study, enabling us to find a way to integrate Vilnius" -, said the Prime Minister.
The counterparts have agreed not to make Vilnius an obstacle for further implementation of the project, and continue working on technical issues and prepare documents for EU funding.
Estonia has presented an item of a regional liquefied natural gas terminal. Lithuania supports the project, whose location has not been decided as yet (Estonia or Finland).
Latvia has presented an item of the 25th Anniversary of the Baltic Way. Preparations are underway. The Lithuanian Head of Government has informed that on 23 January, the Lithuanian Government had set up a working group on preparations, led by the first Vice-Chancellor of the Government. The events should attract more families, youth, emigrants, and various communities.
In the meeting with the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the Prime Minister has talked about projects aimed to achieve energy independence. Answers to questions regarding the Visaginas nuclear power plant will be made by the Committee of Senior Officials in the next meeting of the Baltic Council of Ministers. Prime Minister A. Butkevičius has informed about the inter-institutional committee in Lithuania to deal with issues of co-generation, synchronization with the continental European networks. It is expected that the outstanding questions will be answered by the end of February, and the joint negotiation line will be developed by the Baltic countries as early as end of May.
