Excellencies, 
Distinguished delegates, 
Dear colleagues, 

Allow me on behalf of the Lithuanian delegation to thank the Spanish Government and United Nations secretariat for organising the Second World Assembly on Ageing. I also welcome all participants of the Assembly. 

We, participants of this Assembly, came to Madrid from very different countries. Today we are united by common concern about the ways to create a society for all ages. 

I am convinced that sharing the experience and the best practices with other countries will enable us to succeed in the development of the plan of future action on ageing. It will also help my country to choose the right policy in response to the challenges and opportunities of ageing. This policy aims to create the world that would guarantee a safe and respectable old age and provide for the possibilities of a full inclusion and participation of elderly in the life of the society. 

The issue of ageing is also of great importance to Lithuania, a small country on the coast of the Baltic Sea. Older persons constitute a big and significant part of our society and the number -keepsincmasing. Due to fine-permanent-ecline of birth rate, a negative growth of population has been noted since 1994. Thus, the tendency of ageing of the society is already evident today and shall continue in the future. 

Twelve years ago Lithuania entered a complicated period of economic and social changes. For many people of our country it was a difficult period, and it was 
especially painful for the elderly. Many of them no longer had a chance to adapt themselves to the new opportunities offered by market economy as easily as the young people. Therefore part of the older population found itself in a difficult situation, many old persons felt themselves socially excluded. 

Realising that the success of the reforms depends on whether all the country's citizens feel the positive changes of quality of their lives, whether they become full and equal participants in the changes that are happening, our country has accomplished a lot in the creation of the society based on the principles of equal opportunities for all ages. Lithuania consistently seeks to implement the United Nations Principles of Older Persons. In Lithuania the year 1999 was declared the International Year of Older Persons and a wide programme of actions was implemented. 

The actions that were taken relieved the situation of elderly and contributed to the solving of some of the most pressing problems. However, the situation of older persons in our country still leaves a lot to be desired. Therefore we intend to further apply the instruments of employment, healthcare and social policy that implement the policy promoting society of all ages. We consider the assurance of equal opportunities for men and women to be an important aspect of this policy. Just like it is in many other countries, women account for the bigger part of the older generation in Lithuania. Ageing manifests itself differently with regard to women, therefore it is necessary to adjust the instruments of the policy that is being implemented to their needs and interests. 

When establishing the priorities of the policy with regard to the older population and in the course of its implementation it is necessary to hear the voice of the older persons themselves; decisions should be taken not on their behalf but together with them. Therefore non-governmental organisations of older persons that accumulate the experience of the people of the older generation remain our important partner and play a significant role in the improvement of the integration of older persons into the society. 

The tendency of ageing affects the ratio of working age population and old age population. Due to the shortage of workforce, it is necessary to encourage the old age 
persons who are capable of working and willing to work to stay on the labour market for as long as possible and have access to life long learning. The experience and skills of older persons must be used for the benefit of the entire society. To that end it is necessary to develop the flexibility of the possibilities for older persons to work part time and properly to adapt the policy of pensions at the same time. Although today due to the high rate of unemployment in Lithuania the incentives for older persons to stay on the labour market for as long as possible have to be co-ordinated with special protection instruments for the unemployed of pre-retirement age, the tendency of encouragement to stay on the labour market for as long as possible still appears to be more important. 

We consider the financial reliability and sustainability of the system of pensions that would guarantee the basic income in the old age to be important goal of our activities. Therefore we intend to establish the funded tier alongside with the pay-as-you-go tier in order to achieve that in the future pensions get a more reliable funding from different sources. With the view to ensure the full-fledged participation of older persons in public life, the pensions of the retired persons should increase at the same rate as the real salaries of the working population. We seek that not only employees but also other economically active persons would join the system of social solidarity. 

Older persons are the main users of social services. We may be proud that our country managed to achieve significant progress in the improvement of social services and their quality. The main direction of policy in this field is humanisation of the forms of care, efforts to maintain the person in usual environment for as long as possible and provide with the possibilities of participation in social life. It is aimed at the replacement of institutional services with the services at home that are more effective and stir up older persons' self-assistance. 

Proper policy of overcoming social exclusion and poverty is very important for all countries, and also for Lithuania. It has to be differentiated according to vulnerable groups. Specific measures suiting their needs should be applied with regard to older poor persons, they should be granted income guarantees on more favourable conditions than the persons of working age. 

In Lithuania the process of ageing is stimulated not only by the increase of life expectancy but also by the changes in the structure of population age. Due to the economic difficulties and due to the high rate of unemployment many young people emigrate, young families limit themselves to one or two children because they are not sure if they are able to support them, provide them with an appropriate education and other means Such tendencies affect the demographical situation and intensify the future problems of the ageing society even more. It is therefore very important to emphasise that the solution of the problem of ageing of the society lies not only in the formation of fair social policy with regard to the persons of the older generation. It is inseparable from the integrated economic, social and employment policy implementing the solidarity of generations that embraces all generations. We are convinced that a policy that stimulates the activeness and productivity of today's working generation is not less important for the solving of the problem of ageing today and tomorrow than the policy oriented directly to the needs of older persons. 

We realise that the skills and experience of older persons constitute a part of our national wealth and seek that the older generation could live a full social, cultural and political life and could use the accumulated experience for the benefit of the society. We also seek to guarantee the income of elderly that would not humiliate human dignity and would originate from their ovum economic activeness or social protection programmes; to ensure that all older persons have access to the necessary healthcare and social services, and to prevent any discrimination of older persons on the basis of age, sex or other reasons. We are sure that we shall succeed in the implementation of our above objectives by way of common international and national efforts. 

Thank you for your kind attention.