Credit: Cour Grand-Ducale

His Royal Highness the Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Etienne Schneider and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Jean Asselborn, will undertake an official visit to Lithuania this Thursday and Friday.

At the invitation of the President of the Republic of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaite, HRH the Grand Duke will travel to Lithuania for an official visit from 26 to 27 October 2017. He will be accompanied by the ministers Etienne Schneider and Jean Asselborn along with representatives from Luxembourg’s ICT, energy and finance sectors.

On the first day of the visit, HRH the Grand Duke Henri will be officially welcomed by the Lithuanian president at the Vilnius Presidential Palace, where the two heads of state will have a face-to-face interview. This will lead on to a meeting of the delegations, attended by Etienne Schneider and Jean Asselborn on the Luxembourg side and Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius and Minister of Energy and Acting Minister of Economy Zygimantas Vaiciunas on the Lithuanian side. Discussions will focus on the major issues of European political news as well as bilateral relations in the fields of defence, science, technology and the economy.

The Luxembourg Head of State will also meet the Lithuanian Prime Minister, Saulius Skvernelis, followed by a working meeting of the delegations. Topics relating to bilateral relations, major issues of European political and economic news and more particularly innovation in Luxembourg and Lithuania will be on the agenda of these discussions.

Among other things, the delegation will then visit the technology park Sapiegos Vilnius Tech Park, a community of more than 700 start-ups, entrepreneurs, accelerators and venture capital funds. The Luxembourg delegation will also have the chance to explore the old town of Vilnius.

A gala dinner hosted by President Dalia Grybauskaite, at the presidential palace in honour of the Grand Duke, will close this first day of the official visit.

On Friday, Grand Duke Henri, accompanied by Etienne Schneider, will visit Pabrade, the “transport” platoon of the NATO military battalion, where they will be greeted again by the Lithuanian president, along with the Minister of National Defence Raimundas Karoblis and several Lithuanian army colonels. On this occasion, HRH the Grand Duke and Minister Schneider will also meet wth the twenty-two Luxembourgish soldiers participating in the battalion.