Welcoming the participants, the President compared the activities pursued by the Lithuanian World Community to another distance on the long path already covered. According to the President, the Community had been pursuing two goals: to restore Lithuania's independence and to foster and keep Lithuanian identity. The first goal has already been achieved and the second one will call for long efforts in all countries where at least one Lithuanian lives.

Lithuania‘s President has once again expressed his views on the issue of dual citizenship. “I am strongly confident that Lithuanians have an inherent right to be Lithuanian citizens wherever they live. Therefore, we have to look for  ways of securing this right for them,” the President said. 
 
 Mr. Adamkus also underlined that the main task was to ensure the robustness of the Constitution as the base for the State of Lithuania to stand on. “The Constitution has laid this duty upon me and I, as the President, am responsible for it,” President Adamkus said. 

 As noted by the President, laws do not give him the power to initiate a referendum but he has decided to address the Seimas on this issue. “I will make a written proposal to launch a referendum concerning amendments to Article 12 of the Constitution to allow dual citizenship. I will propose to hold this referendum as part of the next presidential elections,” President Adamkus said. According to the President, this would provide an additional guarantee of over 50 percent turnout required for the referendum to be valid. The President plans to talk on the issue of referendum with  Lithuanian people to secure their votes in favour of dual citizenship.

 Mr. Adamkus thanked members of the Community for their continuous efforts in fostering Lithuanian culture and customs. “As long as there is a link with Lithuania, there will be prospects for expanding the spiritual borders of Lithuania from one continent to another. It is important to ensure that this link is never broken,” President Adamkus said.