"We hope that by the end of the year we will have added more dynamic to the negotiation process and achieved tangible progress in individual chapters,” Linkevičius said in a press release issued after the meeting.
The foreign minister also assured his Turkish counterpart that Lithuania is ready to continue to contribute to Turkey’s preparations for EU membership and to share its expert knowledge related to European integration.
"In today’s global reality, we can once again state that the European Union and Turkey are extremely important, active, and reliable political and economic partners. Turkey’s success of European integration is, undoubtedly, the success of whole Europe. Therefore, both sides of the table are interested in making Turkey’s accession negotiations run smoothly and constructively,” the ministry cited Linkevičius as saying.
During the meeting, the Lithuanian diplomacy chief invited Turkey to sign a readmission agreement with the EU opening a visa liberalization dialogue between the EU and Turkey, thus providing a positive impetus for the entire negotiation process.