News

On 15 June at the meeting with Ukraine’s new Ambassador to Lithuania Valerii Zhovtenko, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis positively evaluated intensive bilateral relations based on trust and emphasized the need to dedicate more attention to advancing economic and cultural relations between Lithuania and Ukraine.

Minister A.Ažubalis stressed the importance of bilateral cultural relations and discussed with the Ambassador the commemorative events marking the 390th anniversary of the Battle of Khotyn.

They also discussed possibilities to enhance bilateral cooperation in energy and transport sectors.

V.Zhovtenko informed the head of the Lithuanian diplomacy about Ukraine’s ongoing internal reforms in economic and social fields.

At the meeting, the Lithuanian Foreign Minister and the Ambassador of Ukraine also discussed cooperation within international organizations.

In 2010, according to the foreign trade volumes, Ukraine was Lithuania’s 14th largest trading partner. Bilateral trade turnover amounted to 2.55 billion Litas and increased by 55 percent, as compared with 2009. In the same year, Lithuania’s exports to Ukraine grew by 60 percent. During the first quarter of 2011, the number of incoming Ukrainian tourists to Lithuania increased by 104 percent.

V.Zhovtenko is Ukraine’s sixth Ambassador to Lithuania. From 1998 to 2004, he worked as head of trade and economic mission and chargé d’affaires at Ukraine’s Embassy in Latvia. Since 2004, he has worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. In 2010,  V.Zhovtenko served as Deputy Head of the MFAs Territorial Department.