On Thursday, July 21, President Dalia Grybauskaitė will meet with Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović who is arriving on an official visit to Lithuania. The two presidents will discuss cooperation in energy, the results of the NATO summit in Warsaw, topical EU issues, and bilateral collaboration. Later in the day, they will open the Embassy of Croatia in Lithuania.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė took part in the annual meeting with Lithuanian ambassadors to discuss the key objectives of diplomatic work in foreign countries.

The globally accelerated development of financial technologies (Fintech) predetermines the need for a more efficient use of Lithuania’s potential available in this sector. Upon the request of the Government, the Ministry of Finance in cooperation with the Bank of Lithuania and other institutions concerned will prepare concrete proposals on how to enhance the development of the Fintech sector in Lithuania.

On July 15 Minister of National Defence Juozas Olekas conveyed condolences to Secretary General of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Armed Forces of the Senate Hélène Conway-Mouret over the tragic events in Nice.

On 16 July, Linas Linkevičius, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, met Tigran Mkrtchyan, the Ambassador of Armenia who is about to start work in Lithuania. Key matters in bilateral relationship between Lithuania and Armenia were discussed at the meeting. It has been agreed to promote economic cooperation and bilateral investment.

A delegation from the civil liberties committee went to Calais in northern France yesterday to assess the situation of people gathering there with the aim of crossing the Channel. The delegation, led by Portuguese S&D member Ana Gomes, visited facilities for migrants and refugees and met with representatives from local authorities, non-governmental organisations as well as French-British border authorities.

On 12 July, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius held a telephone conversation with his Irish counterpart Charlie Flanagan. The Foreign Ministers exchanged opinions about the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union following the country’s EU referendum and its impact on the future of the European Union.

The priorities of the Slovak Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers are being outlined to parliamentary committees by Slovak ministers at a series of meetings, during this week and in September.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė met with Nadiya Savchenko, member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, who had been illegally imprisoned in Russia for two years, with her sister Vira Savchenko and Ukrainian soldiers undergoing treatment in Lithuania.

New gun control rules, making it more difficult for terrorists to have access to them, are voted on by the internal market committee this week. In addition the budgets and economic committees discuss the eurozone's future development with Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem and the finance ministers of Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Slovakia and Malta. A delegation of MEPs is also visiting refugee camps near Calais.