LITHUANIA AND SWITZERLAND DISCUSS POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC RELATIONS
On 14 June in Vilnius, Lithuania’s Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Asta Skaisgirytė Liauškienė held a meeting with Deputy Secretary of State of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Pierre Helg, they discussed bilateral cooperation and economic relations.
The Vice-Minister stressed that bilateral trade relations could be more intensive and Lithuania would expect more Swiss investments.
In his turn, the Swiss diplomat informed the Vice-Minister about the expected investment of a major Swiss Hochdorf dairy company in Lithuania at an early date.
The cooperation between Lithuania and Switzerland within the framework of the United Nations, the Council of Europe (the Swiss Chairmanship of the Council of Europe ended in May 2010), and other international organizations was also discussed at the meeting.
The Vice-Minister acquainted P.Helg with the priorities of the current Lithuania’s Presidency of the Community of Democracies and the forthcoming chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in 2011 and invited Switzerland to actively contribute to the implementation of these priorities.
Vice-Minister A.Skaisgirytė Liauškienė and P.Helg also exchanged ideas about the implementation of the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty, the economic policy coordination, climate change and other important issues that are on the agenda of the European Council meeting due this month, the EU’s neighborhood policy, the EU-Russia relations and development cooperation in Afghanistan.
The Vice-Minister conveyed Lithuania’s proposal for Switzerland to sign the protocol for inter-institutional cooperation, determining closer relations between the foreign ministries of the countries, establishing regular bilateral consultations on important issues of European and international policy, an exchange of diplomats and cooperation on other important issues.
Vice-Minister A.Skaisgirytė Liauškienė thanked Switzerland for the financial support, which is provided under the Swiss-Lithuanian Cooperation Programme, approved on 20 December 2007.
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