President Dalia Grybauskaitė met with Marshal of the Polish Senate Bogdan Borusewicz, Chairman of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada Volodymyr Groysman, and Speaker of the Lithuanian Seimas Loreta Graužinienė, who are participating in the sixth session of the Interparliamentary Assembly of Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine. The meeting focused on the security situation in the region, the situation in Ukraine, and enhanced interparliamentary cooperation between the three countries.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė met with U.S. Senator Richard Durbin who is of Lithuanian descent. The meeting focused on Lithuanian-U.S. cooperation in the fields of security and energy, as well as bilateral economic ties and possibilities to strengthen them. The security situation in our region and Ukraine was also discussed at the meeting.

Member of the European Commission (EC) Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis says that the EC's proposals on migration quotas are balanced and European Union (EU) member states must show solidarity in case of any crisis that the EU faces.

On Thursday morning, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius has met with Bengt-Ake Fagerman, Chief Executive Officer of Skandia, one of the largest Sweden's banking and insurance groups. CEO Fagerman has presented to the Prime Minister Thule Customer Service Centre, to be opened up in Lithuania, and the Prime Minister has emphasized the benefit of Sweden's investment to Lithuania, as well as discussed future prospects.

The committee responsible for dealing with the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will this week vote on its recommendation, while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will address the plenary on Wednesday. Also on the agenda this week are transport, Tunisia, school fruit schemes and improving the stability of the EU's banking system.

On Tuesday, at the Office of the Government, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius has met with outgoing Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to Lithuania Peter Lescouhier. In the meeting, the Prime Minister has thanked the Ambassador for fostering bilateral relations during the Ambassador's tenure in Vilnius, and discussed economic cooperation and cultural relations.

"Croatia is a sincere and true partner to Lithuania in the European Union and NATO. We may be proud of the fact that Croatia joined the EU during the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU. I am happy to note that the new President of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, is seeking a more active role for her country in the EU and NATO and more intensive cooperation between the Adriatic and Baltic Sea regions," said the Deputy Speaker of the Seimas and Chair of the Seimas Committee on European Affairs, Gediminas Kirkilas, at the meeting with the Head of the Office of the Croatian Embassy in Vilnius, Ambassador Davor Vidiš.

MEPs approved measures to prevent proceeds from conflict minerals being used to fund armed conflicts and called on governments to break the deadlock on plans to harmonise maternity leave across Europe. They also debated measures to tackle irregular migrants coming to the EU during the plenary in Strasbourg on 18-21 May as well as green-lit tougher rules to prevent money laundering. Read on for an overview of the plenary.

At the EU General Affairs Council meeting on 19 May in Brussels, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius discussed progress in implementing measures to tackle migratory flows in the Mediterranean sea region adopted at a special meeting of the European Council on 23 April 2015.

In Riga, President Dalia Grybauskaitė together with other EU leaders and representatives of the Eastern Partnership countries outlined further guidelines for the EU's Eastern Partnership policy. The participants underlined that this policy was based on common interests and obligations to strengthen democracy, reaffirm the rule of law principle, promote human rights and fundamental freedoms as well as the norms and principles of international law.