News

On 27-28 March, at the sixth meeting of the Regional and Local Government Long-term Cooperation Council of the Republic of Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Region of the Russian Federation in the city of Svetlogorsk of the Kaliningrad Region, topics of economic, social, and cultural cooperation between Lithuania and Russia’s Kaliningrad were discussed. The Council approved an initiative by the Intergovernmental Commission of Lithuania and Russia to create a permanently operating business forum of Lithuania and Russia. The Council also suggested that the first meeting of the forum should be organised in the first half of this year. 

It was noted at the meeting that the Council would take actions within the limits of its competence to prepare proposals to regulate the issue of the debts of the Russian Federation to Lithuanian construction companies for construction works carried out in the Kaliningrad Region.

Both parties of the Council noted that they were interested in completing the final procedures at the national level in order to start the enforcement of the agreement between the Lithuanian and Russian governments regarding navigation in the Curonian Lagoon and the waterways of Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Region.

Cooperation in the areas of energy, transport, tourism, border infrastructure, elimination of emergency situations, and protection of the environment was also discussed at the meeting. In the discussion about the demarcation of the state border, the Council recommended that both countries should initiate practical work to mark the border.

During the meeting, Lithuania raised the issue of business security in Kaliningrad and the disappearance of the Lithuanian businessman Stanislovas Jucius. Seeking to encourage cooperation in fighting criminality, the Council decided to investigate the possibilities of establishing a separate commission for cooperation between the law enforcement bodies of Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Region.