Azerbaijan, Baku, June 7 / Trend S. Agayeva /
Lithuania is ready to take over the EU Council presidency in the EU Council in the second half of 2013, Lithuanian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Arturas Zhurauskas said at a press conference today.
"The purpose of Lithuania's presidency is to maintain the sustained economic growth and competitiveness by increasing employment, financial stability of countries and energy security which are the EU main priorities," he said. "Lithuania will seek to ensure the continuous and consistent work of the Council."
Lithuania will take over the presidency from Ireland and pass it on to Greece, he said.
He added that Lithuania managed to get out of the economic crisis and enter the list of 10 countries where life is not expensive. The country's budget during the presidency will hit 62 million euro.
According to the diplomat, the process of preparation for the presidency is being coordinated by the Foreign Ministry. About 1,400 public servants will be involved in the preparation for the presidency in Lithuania and the permanent mission in the European Union. Lithuania's presidency model is based on the coordination of processes in Brussels.
One of the main events during Lithuania's presidency will be the summit of EU heads of states in November. Besides the summit, a number of important international conferences are planned to be held, he said.
The Lithuanian embassy in Azerbaijan also plans to organize a number of political and humanitarian events, the diplomat added.
Lithuania will preside less than a year before the elections to the European Parliament and at the end of the cycle of the European Commission's work, in a period of hard work and a large volume of documents in the legislative sphere. Vilnius hopes that Croatia will join EU at the beginning of Lithuania's presidency, he said.
"We hope that the agreements on readmission and visa regime facilitation will be signed between Azerbaijan and the EU in Vilnius," Zhurauskas said. "The negotiations are underway.
I think that the parties will have time to complete them before the summit."
Lithuania expects the real results of the upcoming summit of heads of states of the EU "Eastern Partnership", ambassador of the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry for "Eastern Partnership" Vaidotas Verba told reporters.
"Our "Eastern Partnership" program is very ambitious," Verba said. "It is very big and covers the economic, political and legal spheres. Lithuania hopes for the help of the partner countries."
He added that other priority areas include the energy security, including the creation of an internal energy market and strengthening of the external energy policy, more effective implementation of the EU strategy in the region of the Baltic Sea, including the fourth annual forum, closer cooperation between the EU and the "Eastern partnership" countries through the European External Action Service, as well as the "Eastern Partnership" summit in Vilnius in November 2013, the effective management of the EU external borders, including closer cooperation between the border protection service and counter smuggling and fraud actions.