Presidency of the Republic of Moldova
Dear President Nauseda,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am honored to be here, in Vilnius, on the festive occasion of the Statehood Day of Lithuania, which is celebrated today, just days before our countries celebrate 30 years of diplomatic relations.
Earlier today, I had the pleasure to take part in the National Flag Hoisting Ceremony on the occasion of the Statehood Day. Congratulations to all Lithuanians on this festive occasion. Tegyvuoja Lietuva!
I am very honored to have also received Lithuania’s highest state award, the Order of Vytautas the Great, just minutes ago. On behalf of all Moldovans and myself, thank you! I am honored and humbled by this gesture of friendship and appreciation.
This is my first visit to your beautiful country in my capacity as President of the Republic of Moldova – but it is not at all our first encounter. I remember vividly one of my previous visits to Vilnius when I took the bus from the airport to town in the wrong direction. Was an adventure at that moment, but I can say I know your country better now :).
I also had the pleasure of hosting President Nauseda twice in Chisinau, in May 2021 and, again, in May 2022. There is a good dialogue between our countries at the executive and parliament levels, too. Prime Minister Șimonytė visited Moldova just last December, and your Speaker of Parliament visited Moldova this January. I will also meet both of them later today.
We appreciate the excellent relations between us - as well as the unwavering support that Lithuania has shown, over the years, to our people, to the European aspirations of Moldovans, and to our country’s democratic transformation. We appreciate our bilateral cooperation and want to strengthen it further.
We have good sectoral cooperation in the areas of public safety, border management, agriculture, good governance and defense. We want to work together in combating hybrid threats and misinformation. We look forward to further extending contacts between our local communities.
Lithuania funded development projects in the areas of good governance and civil society support in Moldova. We are thankful for your support.
We look forward to continuing exchanging best practices with Lithuania in modernizing our security and law enforcement sectors. We are thankful that Moldovan military personnel can train at the Military Academy in Vilnius.
Forty-eight Lithuanian companies currently operate in Moldova, and we have a good potential for growth in economic and trade relations. But for that, we need peace.
Four and a half months ago, Russia invaded Ukraine in an unprovoked act of aggression. This continuous tragedy concerns all of us.
Moldova strongly condemned from the start Russia’s war against Ukraine. Our citizens opened their hearts and homes to Ukrainians who were fleeing their homes under attack. Half a million refugees from Ukraine - women, children, elderly - passed through Moldova since February. Over 70,000 are still with us. We are grateful for the financial support that Lithuania offered to Moldova to help us alleviate the magnitude of the crisis.
The war in Ukraine had a major impact on Moldova, as my country was already hit by the effects of the pandemic, inflation and soaring energy prices.
In that sense, we are thankful to Lithuania and our other European partners for admitting more of our exports to the European markets and allowing permit-free freight transports from Moldova. This helps our producers who lost their traditional markets in the East, and gives a hand to Ukrainian exporters as well. Indeed, we are stronger together.
Despite the many crises we are faced with, the Republic of Moldova is on the path of development and European integration. We want to strengthen our institutions and rule of law, develop our economy and transform Moldova into a better country for its citizens.
Our aspirations are clear: we want to give our people the chance at a better, peaceful and prosperous life at home, in Moldova. To that end, on March 4th, Moldova sent the application to join the European Union, and on 23rd of June, we were granted candidate status.
Mr. President, thank you for your personal contribution to this joint decision. The candidate status gives Moldova hope that, despite the hard times, we can transform our country for the better – and we have the support of the European community on this path.
The European Union is the most successful peace project in our history so far. Small states are safer as part of this peaceful and prosperous family of European states.
President Nauseda, dear Gitanas,
Lithuania has been by Moldova’s side for 30 years - thank you for your solidarity. I wish our countries many more years of good neighborly relations and successful partnerships. Let’s work and grow together as part of Europe.
But in order to do this, we need peace. We must work together to stop Russia’s aggression and help Ukraine restore peace and rebuild the country. We must join efforts to help save lives and give Ukrainians the chance to return home, to a country that is part of the free world. We must make sure that such senseless aggression cannot creep into Europe or the world again.
Thank you.
