President Grímsson in Lithuania

The President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, began a State visit to Lithuania yesterday. Today he will be giving a speech in the Lithuanian Parliament on the occasion of the 25^th anniversary of the country's independence.

Senior Icelandic delegation

The President is joined in Lithuania by the Icelandic Foreign Minister, Gunn­ar Bragi Sveins­son, officials from the Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office, and Speaker of the House (‘Alþingi’) Ein­ar K. Guðfinns­son.

The visit began with a ceremony at the residence of the Lithuanian President, Dalia Grybauskaitė. There followed various meetings between the Presidents, the Icelandic delegation and Lithuanian government officials, after which a press conference was held.

Full official programme

President Grímsson laid flowers at a monument commemorating those who died fighting for Lithuanian independence. The Icelandic delegation was then invited to lunch by the Prime Minister of Lithuania, Algirdas Butkevičius.

In the afternoon, the President met with the Speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament and gave a lecture at the Mykolas Romeris University in Vilnius.

The Icelandic and Lithuanian presidents giving a press conference. Photo: forseti.is

Honour and gratitude

In an interview with mbl.is yesterday, President Grímsson stated that he sees his invitation to speak at today’s event – he is the only foreigner asked to so – as an expression of honour and gratitude towards Iceland. Iceland was the first country in the world to establish political ties with Lithuania, thereby formally recognising its independence.

Advocates for Baltic NATO membership

Lithuania’s gratitude and friendship towards Iceland shone through at yesterday’s meetings with President Grybauskaitė, Prime Minister Butkevičius and other senior politicians and officials. Talk turned to Lithuanian concerns about the situation in Ukraine and the conduct of the Russians in the affair. “As I have stressed in my discussions with Lithuania’s leaders today and will reaffirm both at the presidential dinner tonight and in Parliament tomorrow, Iceland – together with other Nordic NATO States and the USA – spoke up loudly in the late 1990’s for the Baltic States’ inalienable right to join NATO,” Grímsson states.

Sticking up for each other

“We Icelanders should never forget that when we gained independence in 1944, the economic basis for our independence was very weak,” he continues. “During my visit in Lithuania, I have reminded listeners of the message conveyed to the Icelandic people back in October 1990 by Vytautas Lands­berg­is, Lithuania’s first President, that small countries in Europe and the world should defend each other’s rights and status, unfettered by the power struggles and super-power views that occupy the minds of other nations.”