The official visit of President of the Republic of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda to Ukraine was extremely productive. This was announced by Deputy Head of the Office of the President Ihor Zhovkva.
Along with a number of joint events with the participation of the leaders of the two states, eight bilateral documents were concluded.
"One of them is special for us. This is a Joint Declaration of the Presidents of Ukraine and Lithuania on the European Prospect of Ukraine. This is the first document of such content, which was concluded by Ukraine with an EU member state,” said Ihor Zhovkva.
The Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine noted that the Declaration not only recognizes the right of Ukraine to apply for EU membership in accordance with Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union, but also enshrines the intentions of Ukrainian and Lithuanian leaders to make efforts for Ukraine’s EU membership prospect. At the same time, the Lithuanian party assured of its readiness to support Ukraine when our state applies for membership.
"I believe that in the not too distant future, this Declaration will have a prominent place along with the Association Agreement in the history of Ukraine's full membership in the European Union. After all, this is an important step towards the realization of the strategic goal of our state, broadly supported by the citizens of Ukraine. I can reveal a little secret - President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy personally participated in the preparation of the text of the Declaration. The signing of the Declaration by the leaders of the two states is a clear confirmation of the strategic partnership between Ukraine and Lithuania," he said.
Ihor Zhovkva said that this joint Ukrainian-Lithuanian document is the first step towards the EU's recognition of Ukraine's membership prospect.
"At the same time, we do not stop there and hope that soon the rest of the member states will also support our European integration aspirations," said the Deputy Head of the Office of the President.
"As President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted, Ukraine in the European Union is not a fantastic, distant dream. This is a strategic, achievable goal. And we are doing our best to get broad international support to achieve this goal. The European Union will soon have a wide-ranging debate on the future of Europe. Ukraine is ready to join this dialogue, because we are convinced that Ukraine and the European Union have a common future," Ihor Zhovkva concluded.