Last year Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė hosted several important meetings with ‘women issues’ on the agenda.

Leading women of the world met in the Presidential Palace on 30 June for the Conference Women Enhancing Democracy: Best Practices organized on the initiative of the Lithuanian President and President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen. 

On 1 July, President Grybauskaitė had meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva, Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict Margot Wallstrom.

Among the participants of the women's high-level conferences hosted in Lithuania for the first time ever was the President of Finland Tarja Halonen, President of Kyrgyzstan Roza Otunbayeva, President of Kosovo Atifete Jahjaga, President of Mongolia Elbegdorj Tsakhia, Speaker of Albania's Parliament Jozefina Çoba Topalli, Speaker of Latvia's Parliament Solvita Āboltiņa, Slovakia's Prime Minister Iveta Radičová, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, also EU, UN and OSCE representatives, members of foreign national parliaments and governments, human and women's rights activists, and NGOs. 

"I am very happy to welcome in Lithuania so many prominent women whose experience and achievements are an inspiring example to all women of the world. Vilnius will become a global focus centre, a venue for discussions on the most sensitive issues of democracy and equal opportunities, the results of which will provide guidance on how women's rights could be enforced and protected in the world," President Dalia Grybauskaitė said.

Women world leaders discussed ways to enhance women participation in political, economic and public life and to ensure equal opportunities of self-expression and career as well as measures to combat violence and trafficking in human beings. 

In a meeting with Margot Wallstrom, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, the President stated that Lithuania has been efficiently implementing, for several years, the National Strategy for Combating Violence against Women aimed at prevention of violence, assistance to victims and work with perpetrators. Much importance is attached to activities of women NGOs which provide assistance to women victims of violence.

Margot Wallstrom passed a message from the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in which he underlined that the Conference initiated by the President is a significant contribution to the United Nations efforts to combat violence, trafficking in human beings and sexual violence in conflict. According to the Secretary-General, the United Nations stands ready to assist in delivering on the goals set by the Conference in Vilnius.

In the meeting, the UN Representative and the President discussed violence prevention programmes carried out in Lithuania. President Grybauskaitė mentioned the recent adoption of the law on protection against domestic violence as a significant step towards society without violence.