"The president has left for a visit to the US," the Press Service of the President said.
On the eve of the visit, the Service said that the presidents of the Baltic states and the United States would discuss ways of strengthening cooperation in the areas of military and energy security, the role of the Baltic states within the EU, relations with Russia and Eastern Partnership countries and the EU-US talks on a free trade agreement.
"I am really glad that such a mission to start talks on a transatlantic trade agreement between the European Union and the United States fell on Lithuania. Such an agreement will be of great benefit for two continents – the American and the European continents as two large and very important global trade centers. It will be Lithuania which will have to organize and chair the first negotiation meeting. That is really important. We really hope that the push Lithuania will try to give will create conditions for the negotiations to end as soon as possible," the president told the Lithuanian Radio on the eve of her visit.
Following the meeting, a joint political declaration of the Baltic and US presidents will be published, with the issue of energy independence as one of the highlights.
"We are still awaiting the United State Senate's decision to facilitate shale gas trade with third countries. So the issue will really be raised. But this issue and assurance that it is important for the United States, too, to help us become more energy-independent will be also established in that joint declaration we, all four presidents, plan to sign," Grybauskaitė said.
The meeting in Washington, D.C. will be also attended by Latvian President Andris Berzins and Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves.
It will be President Grybauskaitė's first visit to the White House.
Then Lithuanian and US Presidents Valdas Adamkus and George W. Bush met in Washington, D.C. in 2008.
Earlier this month, President Obama cancelled his plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in September. Obama still plans to attend a G-20 economic summit in Saint Petersburg but will visit Sweden beforehand.
