Conference ‘100 years of the state. Lithuania. Finland’
Plokščiai, village in the Šakiai district, was a place of festive scientific conference, called ‘100 years of the state. Lithuania. Finland’ on the 21st of the May. Participants of this conference included Deputy of the Chairman of Parliament of Lithuania Arvydas Nekrošius, doctor of humanitarian sciences Arvydas Vidžiūnas, Ambassador of Finland in Lithuania Christer Michelsson, Ambassador of Lithuania in Finland Valdemaras Sarapinas, the mayor of Šakiai district Edgaras Pilypaitis, professors Hannu Niemi and Stasys Skrodenis, and other speakers.
They presented reports about historical relations between Lithuania and Finland, current state of bilaterial relations and future prospects of co-operation.
The Ambassador of Lithuania in Finland Valdemaras Sarapinas on his speech emphasized bilateral co-operation of Lithuania and Finland in various fields, especially highlighting close relations, which should ensure a safety in our region.
Valdemaras Sarapinas alleged: ‘Despite difficult and painful curves of history, nowadays Lithuania and Finland-not only countries which love freedom, not only countries which have saved deep historic, ethnographic, linguistic traditions but also, these countries are modern, creative, fostering western democratic values.
The Ambassador noted that Lithuania, unlike Finland, is a member of the most powerful defense alliance in the world for already 14 years and have guarantees of NATO collective defense. However, according to the Ambassador, we ourselves are responsible for our country defense and Finland is the best example of taking care of the safety of their country.
Plokščiai unofficially is considered as a cradle of cultural co-operation between Lithuania and Finland. Writer of Finland Maila Talvio together with her husband Juliumi Joseppi Mikkola spent their summers in 1894 and 1895. After that, they proclaimed the name of Lithuania in Finland- they had written articles about Lithuania, its people, liberation movement of Lithuanians and its proclaimers Vincas Kudirka and Petras Kriaučiūnas in Finland‘s press. Furthermore, they created novels, novelettes about lithuanian topics, wrote down a lot of Lithuanians folk songs and fairy tales.
