Žygimantas Pavilionis, Lithuania’s ambassador to the United States, will give a public lecture on “Lithuania – Start-Up Nation” during a visit to Madison on Friday, May 2.
Pavilionis, who has held his current post since Aug. 5, 2010, will be speaking at 4 p.m. in the Vandeberg Auditorium (Room 121), at the Pyle Center on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. A reception will follow. The event is free and open to the public.
His visit is sponsored by UW-Madison’s Center for Russia, East Europe and Central Asia (CREECA) and European Union Center of Excellence (EUCE), and Madison-Vilnius Sister Cities Inc.
After joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1993, Ambassador Pavilionis was instrumental in helping Lithuania to join NATO and the European Union.
Prior to becoming ambassador, he held various high-level positions in the ministry, mostly focused on Lithuania’s relationship with the European Union. Most recently, he worked as ambassador-at-large and chief coordinator for Lithuania’s presidency of the Community of Democracies as well as chief coordinator for the Transatlantic Cooperation and Security Policy Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.