Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius has received a visit from the new Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the United States to Lithuania Anne Elizabeth Derse.

Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius has received a visit from the new Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the United States to Lithuania Anne Elizabeth Derse. During the warm and fruitful discussions the Lithuanian Prime Minister has reiterated the strong desire to strengthen and deepen the Euro-Atlantic cooperation, particularly focussing on the strategic partnership with the United States.

The interlocutors have agreed that the bilateral cooperation is ever more important as the United States and Lithuania are now both looking for solutions in relation to the current economic crisis and energy independence which to a large extent will have an effect on the future of both countries.

According to the Ambassador, Lithuania, following its accession to the EU and NATO, plays an impressive role in the international politics, bearing in mind that this is happening only 20 years on from the fall of the Berlin Wall and the liberation of the Eastern Europe from the occupation of the Soviet Union. The Ambassador has particularly commended the Lithuanian-led peace-keeping and provincial reconstruction mission in Ghor: “Thanks to Lithuania, considerable progress has been achieved in Ghor. However, poverty is so deep there that any support will long be welcome. I will do my utmost to mobilize international donors’ support to Ghor, particularly for infrastructure projects, which would ensure at least basic living conditions for the people of Ghor", said the U.S. Ambassador.

It has been agreed that the strengthening of NATO's role in the world must take into account the current global realities and find a balance between the members’ commitment to defend each other's territory and the obligation to defend itself in the face of new threats, as provided for in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.