Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden Carl Bildt visiting Lithuania for conference and bilateral meeting
On Wednesday 11 January and Thursday 12 January, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden Carl Bildt is taking part in the Snow Meeting 2012 conference in Lithuania, organised by the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He will participate in a panel discussion on security aspects of Nordic-Baltic cooperation together with Edgars Rinkevics, Latvia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Anna Jardfeldt, Director of the Swedish Institute of International Affairs.Carl Bildt will also have a bilateral meeting with Lithuania's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Audronius Ažubalis , to discuss political issues of common interest. The traditional informal Snow Meeting, organized by the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs this year will take place on 11-12 January in Trakai and will be attended by the experts in international affairs and security policy from European and North American countries. They will analyse security challenges for the Euro-Atlantic area in 2012 and related regional issues, situation after State Duma elections in Russia, NATO strategic agenda, Nordic-Baltic cooperation in the field of security and other topics.
The 5th Snow Meeting will be attended by Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, Turkish Minister for EU Affairs Egemen Bagis , the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon, high-ranking diplomats, foreign policy advisors, experts in international affairs and security policy from think tanks of the Baltic and Nordic countries, U.S., Turkey, Germany, U.K., Hungary, France and other countries, senior EU and NATO officials.
Snow Meeting garners considerable attention from experts each year. This informal forum puts forward ideas and proposals for EU development, NATO activities, EU Eastern Partnership initiative, integration of the Baltic Sea Region and strengthening the European security.
The Snow Meeting will be attended by Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius, Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis, Minister of National Defence Rasa Juknevičienė, Deputy Speaker of the Seimas and Chairman of the Committee on European Affairs Česlovas Vytautas Stankevičius, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs Emanuelis Zingeris, Chairman of the Committee on National Security and Defence Arvydas Anušauskas and others.
