President Dalia Grybauskaitė, who is attending the Munich Security Conference, participated in the first panel discussion entitled “The Future of European Union: United or Divided”. Among the panelists were also European Commission’s First Vice-President Frans Timmermans, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble and Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Witold Waszcykowski.

Albania should step up the pace of judicial reform, as a key to starting EU accession negotiations, while Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) needs to overcome its ethnic and political divisions and remain united throughout the EU membership application evaluation process, said MEPs on Wednesday.

The European Parliament today backed the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), facing down protests by activists and Donald Trump-inspired calls for protectionism.

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen gave a passionate speech in favour of the EU at the European Parliament and said the challenges facing Europe could only be tackled together. Van der Bellen was addressing MEPs in Strasbourg on 14 February as part of his first official foreign trip. During the speech he said: “The European idea is great. It is unique. It is worth all the effort."

The Professor at Vilnius University Dalia Leinartė was elected as President of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). For the first time in modern history of Lithuania’s multilateral diplomacy, the Lithuanian representative has assumed the charge of the post at such a high level of management in one of the institutions of the United Nations. On that occasion, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius held a telephone conversation to congratulate the Professor personally.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė extended congratulations to the newly elected Federal President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

U.S. President Donald Trump extended congratulations to Lithuania on the approaching Day of the Restoration of Lithuanian Independence. In his letter to President Dalia Grybauskaitė, the President of the United States also sent congratulations to all Lithuanians on the 99th anniversary of Lithuania’s independence day, February 16.

Negotiated for nearly five years and four months, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada is now ready for the final vote by the European Parliament. If MEPs approve it during next week's plenary, the agreement could already provisionally applied from April. In 2015 EU-Canada trade accounted for more than €60 billion and Ceta is expected to boost this. Read on and watch our video to find out more about the difference the trade deal could make.

Federica Mogherini, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission, is today and tomorrow in Washington for her first visit after the inauguration of the new US administration.

Neven Mimica, Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, is in The Gambia today meeting the newly elected President Adama Barrow and his new Government.