LITHUANIA LIKELY TO SUPPORT U.S. CANDIDACY FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L VILNIUS 000792 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR IO/T:LLUFTIG; LONDON:EST-JWHITTLESEY; USCG:CG-52 AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/02/2017 TAGS: AORC EWWT PHSA LH SUBJECT: LITHUANIA LIKELY TO SUPPORT U.S. CANDIDACY FOR INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANIZATION REF: SECSTATE 148540 Classified By: DCM Damian Leader for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) On October 30 we met with Dr. Irena Skardziuviene, Head of the MFA's UN and Council of Europe Division and on October 31 we saw the Ministry of Transport's Director of the Water Transport Department, Juozas Darulis and Deputy, Livita Kretkovskiene to discuss reftel. Skardziuviene said the MFA would have to consider the U.S. position in light of other countries with which Lithuania might have mutual agreements. However, she said that many countries have an interest in shipping but not all should be in category A. In Skardziuviene's view, it is normal that the United States would be in this category. ¶2. (C) Darulis and Kretkovskiene stated they had no doubts that they would support the U.S. candidacy for category A, as they recognize the help the United States provides Lithuania and the world in the domain of shipping. The MFA solicited the Water Transport Department for its position and Darulis and Kretkovskiene said they would respond to the MFA on Monday, November 5. In addition, Darulis stated he would attend the IMO Assembly in London as a voting representative from Lithuania. CLOUD