This energy conference, taking place on the eve of the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) Summit and Business Forum to be held in Vilnius, closely complements the priorities of the Lithuanian presidency of the 3SI and the topics of the discussions that will take place on Thursday.
In his address, the Lithuanian leader underlined that the need to enhance energy resilience and Europe’s independence from Russian energy remains of utmost importance.
“Our shared commitment and dedicated efforts have already brought significant changes to regional energy security. In the wake of Russia’s full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine, we have demonstrated an impressive shutdown on imported fossil fuels and electricity from Russia. Europe’s collective dependence on Russian resources is rapidly diminishing. Lithuania, having stopped gas, oil, and electricity imports from Russia as early as April 2022, will never look back,” the president stressed.
According to Nausėda, the lessons of the past two years, and of the decades before that, have shown us there is no other option but to disentangle from Russia completely.
“No reversal to the past dependence is even conceivable. We were cautioned – even threatened – that Europe will not be able to survive without Russian gas. And yet, here we are, after another winter season, safe and sound, with no impending doom in sight,” the Lithuanian leader spoke.
President Nausėda also stressed that the recent accomplishments rest on short-term measures, while for long-term stability, we need to take additional steps. According to the head of state, it is necessary to ensure the production and supply of affordable green energy, which would help to safeguard our energy security, meet our climate change targets, and maintain Europe’s international competitiveness, as well as to strengthen the protection of the energy infrastructure and its resilience to external cyber and other threats.
“What we need is a radical transformation of the energy system – accelerating deployment of renewables, energy efficiency, flexibility, energy storage and innovative technologies, and strengthening our interconnectivity. We need to rebuild a competitive clean energy technology and manufacturing industry in Europe, which is currently concentrated on other continents,” President Nausėda added.
The Lithuanian leader concluded that Europe stands on the verge of profound change and today’s meeting signifies a shared commitment to a cleaner, safer, more sustainable, and prosperous energy future.
The Baltic Sea High Level Energy Security Meeting is a follow-up to the Baltic Sea Energy Summit hosted by Denmark in 2022.