“President Ilves is renowned for being a very democratic Head of State engagingly interacting with anyone and being an example to others of how to find a way to interlocutors’ hearts and minds. One can frequently meet him at an informal discussion sitting with his laptop in the last row. The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is honoured by President Ilves’ agreement to accept the award, which underlines his invaluable feature – to communicate naturally and convincingly and to enhance relations among states and people”, Lithuanian Foreign Minister said.
Toomas Hendrik Ilves was awarded the highest state decoration of Lithuania, the Order of Vytautas the Great with the Golden Chain, in 2008.
On 13 May Linas Linkevičius also had a meeting with Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Marina Kaljurand where cooperation in energy and transport, security policy in the region, Eastern Partnership, assistance to Ukraine, and relations with Russia were discussed. Beside other things, the heads of Lithuanian and Estonian diplomatic services considered preparations for the Warsaw NATO Summit to take place in early July.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister noted that Belarus was continuing the development of its nuclear power plant project in violation of the requirements and procedures set by the international nuclear safety conventions.
“The fact that we learn about incidents in the construction from the press is another proof that we have reasons for being concerned and that international experts must have a way to check how the project is being developed, including a possibility for EU experts to be involved in stress testing,” Mr Linkevičius said.
Lithuanian Minister emphasised that the question of safety of the Belarus nuclear power plant must be actively raised in all respective international formats.
Minister Linkevičius is visiting Tallinn on 13–14 May where he is taking part in the international Lennart Meri Conference. On Saturday, 14 May, the Minister will give a speech on the importance of deterrence and collective defence in response to security challenges that NATO countries face.
