News

On 8-9 October, the 6th session of the Intergovernmental Lithuanian-Russian Commission for Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical, Humanitarian and Cultural Cooperation took place in Vilnius. Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vygaudas Ušackas and Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Igor Levitin co-chaired the meeting of the Commission, during which important issues of bilateral cooperation in trade, economy, transport, tourism and other areas were discussed.

During the session, Minister V.Ušackas stressed that Russia was Lithuania’s one of the most important economy partners. Lithuania is interested to maintain and develop constructive, principled and mutually beneficial bilateral relations, based on mutual respect and historical truth, the Minister noted. He emphasized that it was important to pursue ‘concrete cooperation results that would be mutually beneficial for the residents of both Lithuania and Russia.’

During the visit of Minister I.Levitin, Lithuania and Russia signed an agreement on cooperation in tackling the pollution of the Baltic Sea by oil and other harmful substances. The agreement foresees that Lithuania and Russia would take preventive measures against pollution of the Baltic Sea by oil. In cases of such pollution, the countries will take joint action against it.

The Commission discussed application of protectionist measures in bilateral trade. Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that he was concerned about restrictions on the export of dairy products of Lithuanian producers to Russia and stressed that the issues of restrictions on the export should be solved as quickly as possible in a way that would be beneficial for both sides. Lithuania’s Minister of Agriculture Kazimieras Starkevičius is in Moscow to solve this issue.

Minister V.Ušackas expressed satisfaction about the fact that the problems, which Lithuanian carriers faced in August when crossing the state border with the Russian Federation, were solved efficiently and effectively. Lithuania suggested establishing a sub-group of the Intergovernmental Lithuanian-Russian Commission for solving the issues of customs and border, which would help to avoid the repetition of similar difficulties in the future. 

Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs raised a question regarding the practical implementation of the Agreement on the Navigation in the Curonian Lagoon and encouraged Russia to open a border check-point in Rybachy as soon as possible. This would guarantee a possibility for navigation in the Curonian Lagoon and the watercourses of the Republic of Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Region.

Minister V.Ušackas expressed satisfaction about the fact that finally a progress was achieved in solving the issue of debts of companies of the Russian Federation to Lithuanian companies. Companies of the Kaliningrad Region returned part of their debt to one of the Lithuanian companies that exports to the Kaliningrad Region.

The participants of the session in Vilnius decided to establish a tourism working group of the Intergovernmental Lithuanian-Russian Commission, which would deal with the tourism development between the countries. The Russian delegation was informed that the number of documents for visa application for the Russian citizens, who want to travel to Lithuania as tourists, was reduced to minimum. Russia is invited to take analogous reciprocal measures.

Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs emphasized the importance of signing an   agreement on the local traffic. This agreement would intensify the movement of residents of Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Region of the Russian Federation and would positively contribute to the development of tourism.

During the session, the participants also discussed the issue of connecting Lithuania and other Baltic States to ENTSO-E, the continental European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity. Russia was given a proposition to consider a possibility of linking the Kaliningrad Region to this energy system.

The delegations of Lithuania and Russia agreed to sign an agreement on cooperation in the areas of standardization, metrology and the evaluation of conformity in the first half of 2010. This agreement will be useful for business representatives in developing their trade relations.