Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevicius is happy about growing mutual understanding between Lithuania and Israel, and called for not damaging improving relations.
Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevicius is happy about growing mutual understanding between Lithuania and Israel, and called for not damaging improving relations.
“The foundation is great, mutual understanding is growing,” Linkevicius said.
“Such visits will be another impulse, and we should patiently continue breaking this ground. Let us not ruin something as we sometimes like to do, and everything will be fine,” the minister said in an interview with Ziniu Radijas radio on Tuesday, on the eve of Israeli President Shimon Peres’ visit to Lithuania.
“Time has come to look ahead, into the light. This is a very favourable background for the Israeli president’s visit, for a historic visit to Lithuania, one we are looking forward to very much,” he further said.
“We will show him places very dear to him, all the more so that the Israeli president is a Litvak, which means that we have many ties that might contribute to the mutual dialogue. The visit is very much in time as we are on our way to the light, and let us look into the future, but let’s not forget the past,” the Lithuanian foreign minister noted.
Linkevicius confirmed that he felt the meltdown in mutual relations during his latest visit to Israel.
“There have been various times, but during my latest visit when I met with officials, one could feel, and it was probably one of the first times, that we have started looking more into the future,” he reflected.
“The past is respected, and nobody can be forgiven for those crimes that were committed, both during and after the war. We should also take on here certain guilt ourselves as a nation, although we will always underline that there were a lot of Lithuanians who saved Jews,” Linkevicius said.
Israeli President Peres is scheduled to pay a state visit to Lithuania later this week.
