President Nausėda appointed Ričardas Degutis as Ambassador to Turkey, Artūras Gailiūnas as Ambassador to Egypt, and Vaidotas Verba as Ambassador to International Organizations in Vienna.
The President and the newly appointed ambassador to Turkey discussed the significance of Turkey in the region and its importance as a NATO ally. Gitanas Nausėda stressed that dialogue with Turkey was of special importance in the context of ensuring security of Lithuania and the Baltic region as well as in addressing the challenges of stopping illegal migration flows. President Nausėda and Ambassador Degutis also talked about the aspects of bilateral relations between Lithuania and Turkey, possibilities of cooperation in aiding the Eastern Partnership countries as well as the potential of unlocking the development of economic and trade relations.
The meeting between President Gitanas Nausėda and Artūras Gailiūnas, newly appointed Ambassador to Egypt, focused on the expansion of political dialogue with Egypt on bilateral, EU neighborhood, and regional matters. The need to promote bilateral economic, trade, cultural, and scientific cooperation was underscored. The meeting also discussed the development of Lithuania’s relations with Jordan, Lebanon, Ethiopia, and international organizations – the Arab League and African Union.
President Nausėda and Vaidotas Verba, the newly appointed Ambassador to International Organizations in Vienna, discussed the guidelines of representation Lithuania’s security and foreign policy interests in international organizations. According to the President, for Lithuania, it is important to raise issues of fostering historical memory, to mobilize the international community against disinformation and revision of history, to defend human rights and freedoms, to ensure free and democratic elections and the territorial integrity of countries at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). According to the President, the highest international standards of nuclear safety in the EU’s neighborhood must be promoted further within the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Lithuania’s Ambassador to Turkey, Ričardas Degutis, has been ambassador-at-large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He served as Vice-Minister of Transport and Communications, Ambassador to the Republic of Latvia, and consul-general in St Petersburg.
Lithuania’s Ambassador to Egypt, Artūras Gailiūnas, was a Deputy Head of the Strategic Management and Analysis Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He headed the Representative Office in Palestine and was Minister Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Lithuania to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva, as well as an advisor at the embassy in Italy.
Vaidotas Verba, Lithuania’s Ambassador to International Organizations in Vienna, has been ambassador-at-large and Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to the Speaker of the Parliament. He was an Ambassador in the Netherlands, permanent representative at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), OSCE head of the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, Odessa Region, and OSCE Project Coordinator in Ukraine.
