News

On 4 November in Tokyo, during his visit to Japan, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis held a meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Seiji Maehara and expressed trust that Lithuanian-Japanese contacts in the area of development cooperation would be strengthened.

Minister A.Ažubalis thanked Japan for successful cooperation in the reconstructing of Afghanistan’s Ghor province.

According to the Minister, joint activities in the province of Ghor have given “a new important dimension” to the relations between Lithuania and Japan.

“We only have to imagine how our joint efforts are changing people’s life in Ghor. They can benefit from hospitals, childcare centres and roads that we have built,” Minister A.Ažubalis said.

At the ministerial meeting, current issues of bilateral political and economic relations, perspectives for further cooperation between Japan and the European Union, regional issues and possibilities to strengthen Lithuanian-Japanese cooperation on the international arena were discussed.

Minister A.Ažubalis acquainted the Japanese Foreign Minister with the plans for the Lithuanian chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in 2011 and Lithuania’s preparation to hold the EU Presidency in 2013.

According to Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, the two countries share a common understanding and enjoy active cultural exchanges, but the already existing good relations have to be strengthened by developing economic cooperation and by creating the necessary legal basis through the signing of the most important economic agreements on investment protection, double taxation and scientific research.

On the same day, Minister A.Ažubalis and the business mission, which arrived to Japan together with the Foreign Minister and which is comprised of representatives from the Lithuanian laser industry, visited the RIKEN research institute and met with its President, Nobel Prize winner Ryoji Noyori.

The Foreign Minister visited RIKEN research laboratories and acquainted R.Noyori with Lithuania’s plans in the area of a knowledge-based economy. The Minister and R.Noyori discussed specific possibilities for the cooperation between RIKEN and Lithuanian research institutes.

RIKEN is among the most important research institutes in Japan, its comprehensive research operation spans the fields of physics, chemistry, medical science, biology, etc. The institute was created in 1917. Today RIKEN has some 3 000 contract researchers. Its research budget is 96 billion yen per year (about 3 billion Litas).

On 4 November, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs also met with Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives of Japan’s Diet (the Parliament) Tadamasa Kodaira. At the meeting, the interlocutors discussed key issues of bilateral cooperation. Minister A.Ažubalis invited the Chairman of the Committee to pay a visit to Lithuania.

On the same day, the Minister attended a press conference at Japan National Press Club, during which he affirmed that Lithuania was interested to intensify as much as possible the cooperation with Japan and answered the reporters’ questions about relations between Lithuania and Russia, European security and Lithuania’s current political and economic issues.

Japan National Press Club joins three thousand Japanese and foreign media representatives. Such political figures as Helmut Kohl, Margaret Thatcher, Jacques Chirac, Václav Havel, Carl Bildt and others were the guests of this Press Club.