Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Marowiecki have had a telephone conversation regarding the import ban on Lithuanian pork and pigs, introduced last December.

At Parliament’s first session of 2019, MEPs review the plans of Romania’s presidency of the Council, discuss Brexit developments and look at the impact of autonomous cars.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė met with the participants of the Snow Meeting – a gathering of influential foreign policy, security and defense experts whose insights have a decisive impact on the future of transatlantic relations.

On 9 January, the Ambassador of Lithuania to Poland Eduardas Borisovas presented his letters of credence to the President of Poland Andrzej Duda.

On 8 January, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Albinas Zananavičius participated in the General Affairs Council meeting in Brussels and heard a presentation on the priorities of the Romanian Presidency.

On January 8 new Defence Attaché of Montenegro in Lithuania Lieutenant Colonel Esmer Gašanin was accredited at a ceremony at the Ministry f National Defence. He replaced Montenegro’s first Defence Attaché in Lithuania Lieutenant Colonel Hajrudin Derekarac.

Romania takes over the rotating presidency of the Council on 1 January, for the first time since joining the EU in 2007. Romanian MEPs told us what they are expecting.

On 4 January, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Neris Germanas met with the Ambassador of Japan to Lithuania Shiro Yamasaki, who presented the opportunity to implement new cooperation projects in the fields of energy, transport, and life sciences.

“The NATO Air Policing Mission is not only a proof of allied solidarity. It should also be a part of the air defence mission in order to have stability, stronger deterrence, and swift response to security threats in the region,” Minister of National Defence Raimundas Karoblis said during a hand over-take over ceremony of the NATO Air Policing Mission in the Baltic states on January 3.

The euro, Europe's common currency, turns 20 on 1 January 2019.