First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusić is paying an official visit to Lithuania, the first since Croatia joined the EU, where she held separate talks with her Lithuanian counterpart Linas Linkevičius and Parliament Speaker Vydas Gedvilas. Pusić and Linkevičius discussed regional cooperation within the EU, namely the Eastern Partnership, which Lithuania had great experience in, as well as the Southern Mediterranean, which is Croatia’s wider neighbourhood. The talks also focused on possible common positions within the Foreign Affairs Council and possible common development projects in third countries.
Lithuania and Croatia are geographically similar in terms of their size and coastal location. “Lithuania is located on the EU border, has a sensitive and interesting neighbourhood, in which regional cooperation is extremely important and has grown from complicated to successful,” Pusić said after the meeting. As backbones of cooperation she pointed out economy, energy and security. Pusić rounded off her official visit to Lithuania with a visit to the European Institute for Gender Equality, where she presented Croatian projects on improving the status of women in post-conflict areas, notably the midwife training project in Afghanistan, aimed at reducing the high mortality rate of childbearing women and newborns. The two officials also discussed Croatia’s future cooperation with the institute, as Croatia has a lot to contribute in that area.
Pusić is to attend the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers (Gymnich) scheduled for the afternoon, a preparation for the upcoming Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius, which Croatia will for the first time participate in as a full-fledged member. Pusić said that three of the Eastern Partnership countries – Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia – were ready to sign or initial association agreements with the EU. Also discussed will be the security situation in the Southern Mediterranean and Syria. The ministers are to discuss the same topics tomorrow with US Secretary of State John Kerry.