The meeting of Budrys with the Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs focused on transatlantic and regional security issues

On 16 January, on the margins of the Snow Meeting, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Kęstutis Budrys met with the Romanian Foreign Minister Oana-Silvia Țoiu. The meeting discussed strengthening bilateral relations, cooperation in the EU and NATO formats, preparation for the Alliance's summit in Ankara, issues related to sanctions, support for Ukraine, the EU integration processes of Ukraine and Moldova.

"Lithuania has close bilateral ties with Romania and successful cooperation with the EU and NATO. We are the frontline states in the neighborhood where the war is taking place. We are dealing with hybrid attacks. We are experiencing external attempts to influence democratic processes. Therefore, concerted efforts to strengthen security and defence, and to increase the resilience of our countries against hybrid threats, are in our common interest," said Budrys.

One of the main topics of the meeting was transatlantic security. The Minister stressed that the continued presence of the U.S. and other allied forces in the region is a key deterrence factor and a clear signal of NATO unity. However, according to Budrys, consistent military capacity-building and the allocation of the necessary financial resources are commitments made by all European countries in The Hague, and the summit in Ankara must be a turning point in implementing the goal of spending 5% of GDP on defense.

The meeting also discussed the need to ensure the continuity of the NATO Eastern Sentry mission and to strengthen the vigilance activities of the Baltic Sentry operation. It was stressed that the recent breach of an undersea cable linking Lithuania and Latvia once again revealed the vulnerability of critical infrastructure.

The Ministers also discussed support for Ukraine, ensuring continuity of sanctions against Russia and Belarus, and the EU integration processes of Ukraine and Moldova. According to Budrys, Lithuania has a consistent position that the negotiations on Ukraine's and Moldova's membership should start simultaneously. According to the head of Lithuania's diplomacy, Ukraine's EU membership is one of the most important non-military security guarantees for the country; therefore, it is necessary to aim for Ukraine to become a member of the EU by 2030.