"The Foreign Ministry conducts our foreign policy, the government conducts our foreign policy, of course, we have a certain influence as politicians, therefore, I follow recommendations of the Foreign Ministry," Gedvilas told the Žinių Radijas news radio on Wednesday.
In his words, a meeting with the Dalai Lama "may draw very painful diplomatic reactions." Asked to specify whether he feared a reaction from China, Gedvilas referred to Lithuania's diplomatic and economic relations with China.
"We simply have diplomatic relations with China, we maintain economic relations with China. I think there are many politicians in the Seimas who will want to meet (the Dalai Lama). I do not want to attach special importance to this, there are many Nobel Prize winners and many of them have come here, and not all of us meet with them," said the Lithuanian parliamentary speaker.
The Dalai Lama is coming to Lithuania on Wednesday for a four-day visit.
