Brussels, 02/02/2001 (Agence Europe) - At the end of a meeting in Brussels with European Commission President Romano Prodi, on Thursday, Lithuanian Prime Minister Rolandas Paksas repeated before the press that his country's goal was to conclude accession negotiations in 2002 and become a member of the EU in 2004. Lithuania, which is part of the candidate countries of the "Helsinki Group" that only began accession negotiations last spring, has so far closed 7 of the 31 chapters under negotiation. Under the Swedish Presidency Lithuania is expected to be able to open talks on all the chapters, and conclude some of them. Prodi stressed "the considerable progress" achieved by Lithuania in its efforts in "catching-up" the most advanced applicant countries ("Luxembourg Group") that have already been negotiating since March 1998. Regarding preparations for accession, Lithuania "defies" the other Baltic States engaged in the accession process (Latvia and Estonia), Mr. Prodi considered.