At the meetings with Foreign Ministers of Mauritania, Nigeria, Botswana and Suriname on 27 September, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis stressed Lithuania’s goal to advance and to strengthen bilateral relations, also to promote economic cooperation in political and cultural fields.

As the Lithuanian business community is ever more interested in possibilities on the African continent, Ažubalis called on his counterparts from African countries to more actively establish business contacts in Lithuania.

At the meeting with Mauritanian Foreign Minister Hamadi Ould Baba Ould Hamadi, the Minister signed an Agreement for the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments between Lithuania and Mauritania. When the agreement enters into force, investors of both countries will be encouraged to invest abroad. This agreement aims to facilitate investments setting high standards of investor protection in the host country.

The decision to conclude the agreement was made taking into consideration the increasing business potential of Lithuania and Mauritania. The Mauritanian Foreign Minister, who paid a visit to Lithuania in this June, invited Ažubalis to pay a reciprocal visit to Mauritania with a business delegation.

At the meeting with Nigerian Foreign Minister Olugbenga Ayodeji Ashiru, the head of the Lithuanian diplomacy underlined that Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer and exporter, was Lithuania’s important partner on that continent. The Foreign Minister stressed the interest of Lithuania to develop bilateral and multilateral cooperation, and to intensively develop business relations.

In the margins of the on-going 67th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York, Ažubalis also met with Botswana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Phandu Tombola Chaka Skelemani.

Lithuania has not yet established diplomatic relations with the Republic of Suriname, therefore, the meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs of this Latin American country Winston Lackin focused mostly on the establishment of diplomatic relations, which would enable the countries to cooperate more intensively at both multilateral and bilateral levels.