Lithuanian, Belarusian and Ukrainian foreign ministers meet in Odessa

In his words, the trilateral meeting on Thursday night was informal and focused on the situation in Ukraine and regional cooperation in the areas of energy and transport.

“It was an informal meeting. A very interesting format,” the minister told BNS by phone from Odessa. “We talked about the situation in Ukraine and the need to help Ukraine, and that we might think about some trilateral challenges as we are live in the neighboring, including transport projects like the Vikingas railway project. Also, there are important energy projects we need to analyze together, despite our different positions.”

Due to the informal nature of the meeting, the Lithuanian minister refused to elaborate on specific issues he discussed with Ukrainian and Belarusian Foreign Ministers Pavlo Klimkin and Vladimir Makey. Such trilateral meetings are not held regularly.

Highly dependent on Russia politically and economically, Belarus has hosted several rounds of talks on a truce in eastern Ukraine where government forces are fighting pro-Russian separatists.

In Odessa, Linkevičius also met with Odessa Oblast Governor and ex-Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and pledged Lithuania will share its reform experience.