On 24 September in New York, Lithuania convened the first informal meeting of foreign ministers since the beginning of its Presidency of the Community of Democracies.
On 24 September in New York, Lithuania convened the first informal meeting of foreign ministers since the beginning of its Presidency of the Community of Democracies. 154 states took part in the meeting: out of them 107 are
member countries, the others have an observer status. Lithuania started its Presidency of the Community of Democracies in July 2009.
At the opening of the meeting, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vygaudas Ušackas assured that during the Presidency of the Community of Democracies Lithuania will do its best in order to establish democratic values in the region and the world. In this endeavour, Lithuania will act like other countries, which regained their freedom after the fall of the Berlin Wall and which see democracy as a guarantee of independence, security and stability.
Minister V.Ušackas presented priorities and main tasks of the Presidency, discussed the democracy situation in different regions in the world, and focused on the situation in Honduras.
Foreign ministers of Chile, Morocco, Nepal, the Philippines, Romania, South Korea, Thailand, and Yemen, vice-ministers from Canada, Italy, Poland, Spain, Ukraine, and the U.S.A., the representatives of Argentina, Brazil, the United Kingdom, the European Commission, non-governmental organizations, and the Community of Democracies Secretariat in Warsaw made their interventions during the meeting.
The foreign ministers of the Community of Democracies adopted a statement on the situation in Honduras. It calls for the restoration of democratic order, human rights and fundamental freedoms in Honduras after the overthrow of its constitutionally elected President on 28 June.
The Ministers supported the priorities of Lithuanian Presidency of the Community of Democracies until 2011 and the main goals to improve efficiency of the Community of Democracies and its visibility in the world. The countries supported Lithuania’s objective to achieve better involvement of international and regional organizations dealing with the promotion of democracy into the activities of the Community of Democracies. The European Union, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Organization of American States, the African Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN) are among such organizations. The participants agreed that the next meeting of the Community of Democracies would be held in Brussels.
The ministers from the Community of Democracies also agreed with Lithuania’s suggestion to restore the working groups, in which threats to democracy could be identified, and the parties could make decisions regarding the strengthening democratic governance after the global economic and financial crisis. Strengthening the role of women and youth in the development of democracy, development of education on democracy, development of regional cooperation in the field of democracy, protection of civil society and non-governmental organizations from the non-democratic governments, the reform of the Community of Democracies itself, the involvement of the world's major democracies, various regions and civil society in its activities would also be discussed in these working groups.
The Ministers supported Lithuanian proposition for the UN General Assembly‘s resolution on education regarding democracy issues and a suggestion to strengthen the activities of the Community of Democracies within the UN in New York and the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Head of Lithuania‘s diplomacy invited the participants of the meeting to visit the exhibition “Lithuania: Culture and History” which Lithuania opened at the UN headquarters in New York. The exhibition is a part of the programme for the celebrations of the first mention of Lithuania’s name.
The Community of Democracies, which was established in 1999, is an intergovernmental structure. Democracies and developing democracies take part in its activities. The goal of this organisation is to strengthen and consolidate democracy worldwide. The Community of Democracies is based on the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Convening Group of the Community is comprised of 17 countries: Cape Verde, Chile, the Czech Republic, El Salvador, India, Italy, Lithuania, Mali, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Mongolia, Morocco, South Africa, South Korea, and the United States of America.