Africa and the EU must establish a new partnership as equals, focusing on people's needs and adjusting to the needs of a post-Covid world.

President Gitanas Nausėda and First Lady Diana Nausėdienė will pay an official visit to Ukraine on March 17-19.

15 March 2021 marks ten years since peaceful protests began throughout Syria. Their violent repression by the regime sparked a decade of conflict. The regime’s brutal repression of the Syrian people and its failure to address the root causes of the uprising has resulted in an escalated and internationalised armed conflict. Over the last ten years, countless abuses and violations of human rights, and grave violations of international humanitarian law by all parties, particularly by the Syrian regime, have caused enormous human suffering. Accountability for all violations of international humanitarian and human rights law is of utmost importance both as a legal requirement and a central element in achieving sustainable peace and genuine reconciliation in Syria.

On 10 March in Tallinn, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis and the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and First Secretary of State of the United Kingdom Dominic Raab exchanged their views on relations with China and Russia, cooperation with eastern partners, and prospects of economic cooperation.

On Thursday, Parliament adopted three resolutions taking stock of the human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bahrain and Cambodia.

On 10 March in Tallinn, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis took part in the meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the three Baltic states and the United Kingdom. The first ever meeting in this format discussed relations with Russia, China and the Balkan countries, the situation in Belarus and Ukraine, key items on NATO's agenda and transatlantic relations, the Eastern Neighbourhood Policy, the fight against disinformation and the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change policies, cyber security, and ways to ensure freedom of the press.

The Commission has appointed two new Heads of the Representation for Greece and Belgium. Ms Niovi Ringou will start in her new function in Athens on 16 May 2021. Mr Stefaan De Rynck will take up his duties as Head of Representation in Brussels on 16 March 2021. Heads of Representation act as the official representatives of the Commission in the Member States under the political authority of President Ursula von der Leyen.

The European Union and the United States have concluded negotiations to adjust the European Union's World Trade Organisation (WTO) agricultural quotas, following the UK's withdrawal from the EU. This is the culmination of two years of negotiations in the WTO framework to divide these EU quotas, with part of the volume remaining with the EU 27, and part going to the UK, based on recent trade flows. The agreement covers dozens of quotas and billions of euros of trade including for beef, poultry, rice, dairy products, fruits and vegetables and wines.

Christian Danielsson has been mandated by President Michel, in cooperation with High Representative Borrell, to engage in the EU-backed mediation effort in Georgia, in follow up to the relaunch of the political dialogue during President Michel’s visit to Tbilisi on 1 March.

President Gitanas Nausėda had a telephone call with the Prime Minister of Sweden, Stefan Löfven, to discuss the progress of synchronization of the Baltic States’ electricity grid with continental Europe and plans for building the Harmony Link interconnection.