VILNIUS, September 8, BNS – Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius says Israel is a strategic regional partner. He made the remarks Tuesday in Israel and expressed hope for a future strengthening of the partnership.

Meeting with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, Butkevičius called the opening of an Israeli embassy in Vilnius earlier this year a historic landmark in bilateral relations.

“Israel is our strategic regional partner and one of the most important partners for Lithuania worldwide. I am convinced the partnership between our countries will grow in the future,” the Lithuanian PM said in a press release.

 

Butkevičius underlined cooperation on the UN Security Council and “the government’s superb

cooperation with the Lithuanian and world Jewish communities.”

 

According to the press release, the prime minister briefed participants at the meeting on the Goodwill Compensation Law and the work of a commission for Jewish cultural and historical issues.

 

Under the 2011 law on compensation for nationalized real estate of Jewish religious communities, Lithuania committed to paying out 37 million euros over a decade.

 

The prime minister said that “Lithuania’s government takes a strong position on anti-Semitism and is implementing programs to promote tolerance.”

 

Butkevičius paid tribute to Holocaust victims at the Yad Vashem Museum in Jerusalem earlier Tuesday.

 

During their visit to the Holocaust commemoration center, Butkevičius and his wife laid a wreath and planted a memorial tree.

 

Nazis and their collaborators exterminated about six million Jews during the Holocaust, killing about 90 percent of Lithuania’s pre-war Jewish population of approximately 208,000.

 

In a message published on his social media feed, the prime minister called the Holocaust tragedy “a great agony to Lithuania and its people.”

 

“Lithuanian Jews lost in the Holocaust were our fellow citizens and they will live forever in our hearts. Our task now is to remember the victims of the Holocaust, to keep promoting shared human values and to preserve and cherish the unique Litvak culture,” the Lithuanian prime minister said.

 

According to the last Lithuanian census in 2011, there are about 3,000 Jews living in the country.

 

BNS