LITHUANIA TO REPRESENT ESTONIA IN VISA MATTERS IN ARMENIA, KALININGRAD
Baltic News Service
February 17, 2009 Tuesday 3:07 PM EET
Estonia and Lithuania have concluded an agreement under which Lithuania
will represent Estonia in matters related to visas in Armenia and
Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad.
The accord was inked today by foreign ministers Urmas Paet of Estonia
and Vygaudas Usackas of Lithuania.
Paet said after the signing that Estonia has now 54 countries and
regions covered by visa representation agreements. Usackas for his
part added that Lithuania is prepared to offer Estonian diplomats
the opportunity of obtaining practical experience at those embassies.
The ministers discussed energy security, economic cooperation and the
current economic situation. They also talked about the developments
in NATO, the alliance’s military operation in Afghanistan and the
situation in that country.
Usackas said Lithuania plans to send another platoon-size unit to
Afghanistan. Estonia may enlarge its contingent there after terminating
the Iraqi mission, Paet said. He also underlined the importance of
increasing civil contribution in Afghanistan, adding that Estonia
has plans to do so.
Other topics discussed in the meeting were Belarusian developments
and the European Union’s Neighborhood Policy.
Usackas said Lithuania is preparing agreements with Belarus and
Russia on border crossing regulations for residents of cross-border
territories and is prepared to share its experience of the
implementation of such regulations with Estonia.