WEIR VISITS LITHUANIA FOR TALKS ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY 

Angus MP Mike Weir, who is the SNP Westminster Spokesperson on Energy, visited Lithuania as part of a UK delegation for talks with Lithuanian parliamentarians on climate change and energy.  

Lithuania gained independence from the former Soviet Union in 1990 and joined the European Union in 2004.  

Commenting on the visit Mr Weir said that Lithuania was clearly a dynamic small nation that was making great strides forward. 

“The focus at the moment is clearly on economic development but the issue of climate change is beginning to move up the political agenda, not least because of the clear impact that changing weather is having on the country’s Baltic coast.” 

“As part of the visit we went to the coastal resort of Palanga whose beautiful beaches are now suffering serious erosion.” 

“In Scotland we recognise that we must contribute to the fight against climate change. The UK embassy in Vilnius is doing excellent work in promoting the subject in the country and we were delighted to be able to help push forward the message by our visit and the meetings we had with Lithuanian politicians.” 

Mr Weir said that the country also faced challenges in the energy field as most of its oil and gas comes from Russia and it relies for electricity on an old Soviet era nuclear power station, which is due to close in 2009.