The President greeted the mayors of the cities who had come to the Lithuanian capital on the occasion of the 700th anniversary of Vilnius and stressed that this was a unique opportunity to reflect on a long and rich history of Vilnius and the entire Lithuania in the context of Western civilization. Gitanas Nausėda emphasized that Vilnius continued the mission outlined by Gediminas: today the capital of Lithuania is an open and welcoming city of free people. The President invited the guests and the communities of their cities to participate in the festive events that Vilnius was planning to host throughout this year.
The meeting also discussed the assistance of European cities to Ukraine. Gitanas Nausėda stressed that since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, all Lithuanian municipalities had been actively supporting Ukraine by providing humanitarian and financial aid and necessary equipment. The President also introduced the Ukrainian Center—an open cultural and educational space for the Ukrainian community—which was founded in Vilnius on the initiative of the First Lady of Lithuania, Diana Nausėdienė, and the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska.
During the meeting with heads of European cities, the President also spoke about the NATO Summit to be held in Vilnius in summer and the attention of the whole world on the decisions taken by the strongest military alliance.
The meeting was attended by the mayors of Vilnius, Reykjavik, Stockholm, Tampere, Gdańsk, Lublin, Łódź, and Lviv.
