Okinčicas awarded Lithuania's Diplomacy Star

On 12 September, Česlavas Okinčicas, politician, lawyer, signatory of the Act of 11 March, the Act on the Re-establishment of the Independent State of Lithuania, was awarded the honorary badge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Lithuania's Diplomacy Star. The award was presented to Č. Okinčicas for his active political and diplomatic, as well as social and educational work, and for the promotion of Lithuania's name around the world.

"We greatly appreciate your contribution to advancing relations between Lithuania and Poland. Your consistent long-standing efforts have significantly strengthened not only the political and economic ties between Lithuania and Poland, but also, most importantly, the connections between the people of our two nations," designated Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kęstutis Budrys, said at the award ceremony.

Okinčicas served as an advisor on national minorities to the President and later to the Prime Minister. From 1996 to 2004, he headed the Adam Mickiewicz Foundation for the Support of Lithuanian-Polish Relations, which fostered cultural and social relations between the two countries. In 1989, he founded the Polish-language newspaper Znad Wilii, along with like-minded individuals, and a few years later, a radio station that became a important sources of information for the Polish community in Lithuania. Okinčicas was also active in promoting economic cooperation between Lithuania and Poland.

In Lithuania, the signatory of the Act of 11 March was awarded the Lithuanian Independence Medal (2000), the Commander's Cross of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas (2000), while in Poland he received the Commander Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1996), the Commander Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (1999) and the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland (2013).