President Klaus Iohannis has started on Thursday the official visit to Lithuania, where he was welcomed by his Lithuanian counterpart Gitanas Nauseda, at the Presidential Palace in Vilnius, according to Agerpres.

The head of state was greeted with military honors.

The two presidents will have head-to-head talks, at the end of which they will hold joint press statements.

On Thursday, President Klaus Iohannis will have a meeting with Lithuania’s Speaker of the Seimas (Parliament) Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen and lay a wreath of flowers at the „Memorial of those fallen in the fight for independence.”

The Presidential Administration informed that on the discussions’ agenda also included are the strengthening of the bilateral relations, including the economic and sectorial cooperation, the European and international agenda. An important place in the discussions will be granted to the cooperation within NATO and strengthening the Eastern Flank of the Alliance for ensuring Europe’s security, including through Romania’s participation in the enhanced air policing mission in the Baltic countries, as of 2023. Also discussed will be the possibilities to increase the assistance efforts for Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees, taking into account the damage caused by the war and the coming of winter, as well as measures to support grain exports from Ukraine, in order to ensure food security for some vulnerable third countries.

On the discussions’ agenda also included will be energy security, with an emphasis on solutions for diversifying Europe’s gas supply, in order to reduce dependence on the Russian gas. The developments in the Republic of Moldova and the assistance measures in the difficult economic context that the neighboring state is going through will also be addressed, as well as regional cooperation, including in view of the Bucharest 9 Format and the Three Seas Initiative.

On Friday, the second day of President Iohannis’ official visit to Lithuania, the head of state will participate in the symposium called „The Idea of Europe,” organised in Kaunas, by the Vytautas Magnus University, where he will deliver a speech within the presidential panel.

Moreover, the head of state will also attend, alongside his counterparts from Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, a summit dedicated to strengthening the Eastern Flank of NATO, supporting Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova and promoting European memory, with a focus on combating disinformation and the attempts to rewrite history.

Agerpres