On November 5, Vilnius hosted the 40th session of the Baltic Assembly, a platform for cooperation among the parliaments of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia established on November 8, 1991. This year Lithuania holds the presidency of the Baltic Assembly.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda was presented with the medal of the Baltic Assembly during the organization’s session in Vilnius on November 5. Lithuanian MP Andrius Kupčinskas, president of the Baltic Assembly, said that the medal had been awarded to Nausėda “for promoting unity and cooperation between his country and the Baltic states”.
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are driven to act together by their common interest in overcoming complex challenges, such as climate change, illegal migration, preserving European values, and threats to the region’s security, according to Nauseda. “We have seen that security in the 21st century is becoming an increasingly complex concept, with information and cyber-attacks demanding more and more attention,” he said. “We need to cooperate even more closely and smartly to counter hybrid threats.”
The Baltic countries must not forget their neighbors fighting authoritarian regimes and, therefore, they have to continue to push for the continuation of NATO’s open door policy and to seek an ambitious outcome of the upcoming Eastern Partnership summit, according to the president.
Nauseda also underlined the need for the Baltic states to work toward stronger protection of the EU’s external borders and greater NATO resilience to hybrid attacks.
The Baltic Assembly (BA) Prize in Literature 2021 was presented to Vahur Afanasjev (Laanoja) of Estonia for his novel Serafima ja Bogdan (Serafima and Bogdan), the Lithuanian parliament’s public relations office has said. The BA Prize in Arts 2021 went to Ginta Gerharde-Upeniece of Latvia for the direction of the international exhibition project Wild Souls. Symbolism in the Art of the Baltic States in Paris, Tallinn, Vilnius and Riga in 2018 to 2021. The BA Science Prize 2021 was awarded to biochemist Professor Virginijus Šikšnys of Vilnius University for his pioneering research in CRISPR-Cas9 Genome editing. Lithuania’s Idenfy, Latvia’s Integris and Estonia’s Bisly have been named the laureates of this year’s Baltic Innovation Prize.
Lithuanian Birutė Jonuškaitė won the Baltic Assembly Prize in Literature 2020 for her novels Maranta and Maestro, and her book of conversations Laikas ir Likimai (Time and Destiny). Lithuania’s Lemona Electronics received its Baltic Innovation Prize 2020.
On the same day, Dr. Regina Kvašytė was presented with the Balts’ Award, established by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania and Latvija. Its purpose is to recognise the excellence and achievements related to individual contribution and accomplishment in promotion of Lithuanian-Latvian and Latvian-Lithuanian translations, teaching and enhancing the use of Lithuanian and Latvian languages, research on the Lithuanian and Latvian tangible and intangible cultural and historic heritage, as well as investigative journalism on Lithuanian and Latvian history, culture and tourism.
Dr. Kvašytė is well-known for her activities and achievements in the fields of philology, education and culture in both Latvia and Lithuania.She recognized throughout European as an expert in baltic Studies. She works at the Latvian Language Institute of the University of Latvia and Vilnius University Šiauliai Academy. At this Lithuanian University she established and curated the Canadian Auditorium, where collecting material about Canada and Canadian Lithuanians.
From alkas.lt
