Netanyahu lands in Lithuania for four-day visit

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lands in Lithuania for a Baltic summit through which he said he hoped to deepen ties with eastern European nations to counter the EU’s “not always friendly” relations with his country.

Netanyahu, who has Lithuanian roots, is greeted by the Baltic country’s foreign minister at Vilnius airport.

“I want to achieve a balance in the European Union’s not always friendly relations with Israel in order to maintain fairer relations,” Netanyahu says before boarding the plane for the first-ever visit by an Israeli premier to Lithuania.

“I am doing it through contacts with blocs of European Union countries, eastern European countries, and now with Baltic countries and other countries, of course.”

Netanyahu will meet the leaders of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia together in Vilnius during his visit which is set to last until Sunday. He will also pay tribute to Lithuania’s once vibrant Jewish culture and its tragic end during the Holocaust.

Lithuania has traditionally been one of Israel’s better friends in the European Union.

— AFP