Deputy Lithuanian foreign minister Mantvydas Bekešius on a working visit to Israel May 12 met in Tel Aviv with Lithuanian exile organizations Beit Vilna, Igud yotzel Lita and Israelita as well as honorary Lithuanian consuls.
Bekešius told organization representatives and consuls about an idea and program for a World Lithuanian Economic Forum to take place October 19 to 21 in Israel, and asked them to participate actively.
The deputy minister told of efforts to conserve Jewish cultural heritage in Lithuania and to conserve Holocaust education and commemoration projects, and delivered a letter from the Lithuanian prime minister Algirdas Butkevičius thanking World War II vets living in Israel on the 70th anniversary of the end of the war.
Butkevičiaus welcomed wishes expressed by the organization to cooperate more closely with each other and with the Lithuanian Jewish Community. He called upon Litvaks not to lose their tie with Lithuania, to make our country famous as a tourist attraction and a country open for business. Everyone present at the meeting agreed the priority of action was to include young people from Lithuania and Israel in projects.
At the meeting Bekešius discussed a common meeting of Litvaks and émigrés from Lithuania on October 21 and 22 in Tel Aviv. The deputy minister also invited the organizations and consuls to participate actively in events which will take place in Lithuania in August including Jewish Culture Days in Žagarė, Lithuania, and a conference for the 90th birthday of the YIVO Jewish Research Institute.