Activities of Secretary-General in Lithuania, 16-18 November

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, accompanied by Madam Ban Soon‑taek, arrived in Vilnius on the evening of Saturday, 16 November, having left Tallinn that afternoon and made a brief stopover in Riga.

That same evening, the Secretary-General had a working dinner with Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevićius.

On Sunday, 17 November, the Secretary-General first met with Dalius Cekuolis, a former Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the United Nations and former Economic and Social Council President.  He next had a working breakfast with the Speaker of the Seimas — Lithuanian Parliament — Loreta Graužinienė, and other parliamentarians.  He later met with Professor Vytautas Landsbergis, former Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania.

The Secretary-General then visited the BOD Group company Baltic Solar Energy on the outskirts of Vilnius to see solar panels being made.

Later, the Secretary-General had a working lunch with Foreign Minister Linas Antanas Linkevičius before being driven to Kaunas, where he received an honorary doctorate on behalf of the United Nations from Vytautas Magnus University and delivered a lecture.  (See Press Release SG/SM/15473.)

At the University he also met with university officials, including former Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus.  The Secretary-General returned to Vilnius that evening.

On Monday morning, the Secretary-General laid a wreath at the Antakalnis cemetery and then held talks with President Dalia Grybauskaitė.  They gave a joint press conference after their talks.

The Secretary-General left Vilnius for Poland around midday on Monday at the end of a visit to all three Baltic States, and arrived in Kraków, Poland, that same afternoon.