Berlin (dpa) – Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will be opening a conference in Vilnius to mark the 700th anniversary of the city and the development of German-Lithuanian relations since then. Before that, he will meet with President Gitanas Nauseda, who invited him to the conference. In the afternoon, Steinmeier will be observing a target practice session of the German-led multinational task force at the Pabrade military training area.
Steinmeier flew to Lithuania on Sunday evening, with relatives of the almost 800 German soldiers stationed there travelling with him on the government aircraft. In this way, he would like to thank the families for taking on the burden of this mission, which serves to secure NATO’s eastern flank against possible Russian aggression.
The first written mention of the Lithuanian capital Vilnius was in January 1323. At that time, Grand Duke Gediminas wrote a letter inviting Christian merchants, peasants, soldiers, craftsmen and clergymen from all over the world to settle there, especially those from Lübeck, Stralsund, Bremen, Magdeburg and Cologne.