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On 23 September at the United Nations headquarters in New York, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis chaired a ministerial meeting of the UN Democracy Caucus, which was jointly organized at Lithuania’s initiative with the Council of Women World Leaders. The panel discussion “Women as a Critical Force in Democratic Governance” focused on the role of women in the democracy-building process. President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė also delivered a speech at the panel.

The event received a lot of attention from national delegations and the press in New York. Besides the representatives from Lithuania, President of Finland Tarja Halonen, President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Kyrgyzstan Roza Otunbayeva, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer, UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Margot Wallström, Chile’s former President Michelle Bachelet, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, former Prime Minister of New Zealand Helen Clark,  Prime Minister of Mongolia Sükhbaataryn Batbold and others also gave speeches at the meeting.

Foreign ministers of Poland, Estonia, Hungary, Albania, Benin, the Philippines, Indonesia, Canada, Maldives, South Korea and Thailand spoke at the event.

The U.S. Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Maria Otero said that the United States wanted to thank Lithuania for its leadership in organizing this event at the UN and in raising women’s rights issues within the Working Group on Women’s Rights of the Community of Democracies, co-chaired by Lithuania and the U.S.A. According to the U.S. Under Secretary of State, democracy spread around the world following the fall of the Berlin Wall, but democracy still faced new threats. M.Otero thanked Lithuania for holding the Presidency of the Community of Democracies and for readiness to tackle the challenges to democracy.

According to Lithuania’s Foreign Minister, the event in New York marks the middle of Lithuania’s two-year Presidency of the Community of Democracies.

Minister A.Ažubalis said that Lithuania had breathed new life into the Community of Democracies. Lithuania initiated the working groups of the Community of Democracies that are chaired by Canada, Hungary, Romania, South Korea, U.S.A., Lithuania, Chile, Sweden and Italy. The activities of these working groups focus on enabling civil societies, women’s rights, democratic and economic reforms, development cooperation, and on other areas.

The Parliamentary Forum of the Community of Democracies and the Young Leaders Forum were set up at Lithuania’s initiative. The forums join together the world’s leaders of parliamentary democracy and young fighters for freedom and democracy.

“In the period of one year, Lithuania gave new impetus to the activities of the Community of Democracies. This has been witnessed by the international community. The meeting of the Parliamentary Forum at the U.S. Congress on 15 September, which saw active participation of legislators from a variety of countries, was the latest clear demonstration of the success of our endeavour,” Minister A.Ažubalis said.

The Minister also stressed that thanks to Lithuania’s efforts democracy was back on political agendas of the most countries of the world.

According to Minister A.Ažubalis, the foreign ministers’ meeting on 30 June-1 July next year will be the final highlight of Lithuania’s Presidency. During the meeting, foreign ministers are expected to adopt important decisions on reforms of the Community of Democracies.

The Minister said that Lithuania was one of the most active supporters of reforms in this intergovernmental organization.

“In order to remain effective, the Community of Democracies has to solve real problems that democracy faces,” Minister A.Ažubalis highlighted.

The Community of Democracies was founded in 2000 in Warsaw at the initiative of the former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and the then Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Bronisław Geremek. This intergovernmental organization, which joins together more than 100 countries, has the aim to promote and strengthen democracy and democratic institutions all over the world.