'HIGH-LEVEL DEMOCRACY MEETING' IN LITHUANIA PREVIEWED AT NEWSMAKER
The Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania and a senior advisor to the U.S. Secretary of State gave a May 26 Newsmaker a preview of the "High-Level Democracy Meeting" to be held in Vilnius, Lithuania, June 29-July. Minister Egidijus Meilunas (rpt Egidijus Meilunas) and Dr. Tomicah Tillemann (Tomicah Tillemann), Senior Advisor to Secretary of State Clinton for Civil Society and Emerging Democracies, said the meeting---which will come at the end of Lithuania's presidency of the Community of Democracies (CD)---will have a special focus on supporting democratic transition and consolidation worldwide, but especially on North Africa and the Middle East, and on helping bridge the gap between the principles of democracy and universal human rights.
Minister Egidijus said the meeting will seek to achieve these goals by "strengthening a global network of government representatives, members of legislative bodies, civil society and others" committed to these ends.
Dr. Tillemann said the democracy meeting "could not have come at a better time," given the "ongoing wave of democracy spreading across the Middle East and North Africa."
Mr. Emanuelis Zingeris, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, and President of the Parliamentary Forum of the Community of Democracies, said it is especially fitting that the democracy meeting will be held in the shadow of the Vilnius TV tower, which in January 1991--when Lithuania was still part of the Soviet Union--was attacked by Soviet troops because it was broadcasting pro-independence programming.
Faced with popular pressure, the troops eventually withdrew, which led to a series of events resulting in Lithuania's independence from the Soviet Union and return to a democratic state.
Peter Hickman, pjhickman@hotmail.com
