Vilnius, Lithuania - A meeting on the UPF Founders’ World Tour 2011 and the Baltic Dialogue initiative of UPF-Eurasia for Ambassadors for Peace was held on June 21 in Vilnius. Raimondas Urbonas, chairman of UPF-Lithuania, introduced Mr. Romualdas Krinickis, the former Mufti of the Tatar Sunni, who gave a detailed report about the UPF European Leadership Conference and the Founders’ World Tour event in Oslo, Norway, where he was a participant. Mr. Krinickis said that the event deeply impressed him and added that all efforts to establish world peace should be highly appreciated despite the different religious backgrounds of the proponents.
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Then the Secretary General of UPF-Eurasia, Jacques Marion, and his assistant Konstantin Krylov gave presentations that were the highlights of the meeting: “Founders’ World Tour 2011” (Jacques Marion) and “Baltic Dialogue” (Konstantin Krylov).
The idea of the Baltic Dialogue initiative inspired a lively discussion, and the national Ambassadors for Peace expressed their concerns and offered their proposals. The participants agreed that an initiative promoting peace, cooperation, and mutual understanding involving the Baltic nations and Russia was urgent and timely, yet it could only be achieved through mutual understanding and resolving resentments of the past. Over the past two decades, the relationships between Lithuania and two other Baltic states (Latvia and Estonia) on the one hand, and Russia on the other hand, have remained tense, arising out of disagreements among the nations. But according to one Lithuanian Ambassador for Peace, people should speak out honestly and openly about what they think of each other and start talking; only then can they work together to solve the problem.