Lithuania

French presence

• French Embassy X account: @FranceLituanie
• French community: 781 French nationals registered
• Lithuanian community in France: approximately 3,000

Visits

France and Lithuania have regular bilateral political contact about the European agenda, international topics and economic issues.
In May 1992, President François Mitterrand was the first Western leader to visit Lithuania following the re-establishment of diplomatic relations. President Jacques Chirac made an official visit in 2001. On 9 April 2018, President Emmanuel Macron received Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaitė for the celebration of the centenary Lithuania’s re-establishment and the inauguration of the Symbolism in the Baltic States exhibition organized by the Musée d’Orsay. President Macron made an official visit to Lithuania on 27 and 28 September 2020. President Gitanas Nauseda met with President Macron at the Élysée Palace on 30 November 2021.
Foreign Minister Colonna made a working visit to Lithuania on 29 and 30 March 2023 where she met with the Lithuanian Prime Minister, Ingrida Šimonytė, and with the Lithuanian Foreign Minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis. She visited a military base in Šiauliai on which the French air detachment participating in the NATO air policing mission was deployed.

Cultural, scientific and technical cooperation

Lithuania has been an observer member of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) since 1999. In 2012, the country signed a partnership agreement with the OIF on training in French for its diplomats and public servants. French is the fourth most widely taught foreign language and the number of pupils at the Lycée International Français in Vilnius is growing steadily.
University partnerships in the fields of law and political science with Romeris University and the University of Vilnius are being developed. Joint degrees have been created with Bordeaux IV University and Savoie Mont Blanc University. After the Belarus authorities closed the French-Belarusian Centre for European Studies (CFB) of Minsk in June 2021, it was transferred to Vilnius and a Bachelor’s programme in European International Law in conjunction with the University of Bordeaux was introduced.
Scientific cooperation is notably supported by the “Gilibert” integrated actions programme based on fields of excellence in Lithuania (physics, chemistry and biochemistry).
Cultural cooperation is extensive, with the “Winter Screens” film festival, a partnership with the city hall and the University of Klaipeda in the areas of contemporary dance, cinema and memorial events, and the “New Outlooks on Today’s World” ideas debating programme. A Lithuanian Culture Season will be held in France in autumn 2024.
In 2022, Kaunas, the second largest city in Lithuania, was one of the three European culture capitals. In this capacity, France conducted projects and made contributions to enhance the 2022 Kaunas programme.

• Lithuanian Institut Français