Lithuania holds its first political consultations with the United Arab Emirates
On 22 September, the first political consultations between Lithuanian and United Arab Emirates (UAE) took place in a virtual format. The meeting focused on the issues of bilateral political, economic, legal, and consular cooperation, work within international organizations, as well as the security situation in the Middle East, the Gulf, and Africa.
The Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Neris Germanas noted that the UAE was becoming an important political and economic partner of Lithuania in the Middle East-North Africa region. Representatives of Lithuania and the UAE welcomed the exchange of high-level visits on a regular basis, bilateral meetings, and excellent cooperation through multilateral means: the UAE supported Lithuania's bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, while Lithuania supported the initiative of the UAE to hold the World Exposition 2020 in Dubai.
In the meeting, Germanas congratulated the UAE on striking a major historic agreement that would normalize diplomatic relations with Israel. The two sides exchanged views on the situation in Libya, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, and Somalia.
When speaking about the situation in the neighboring Belarus, Germanas said that the entire international community must continue to increase pressure on Lukashenko’s regime to stop violence against peaceful protestors and human rights violations.
The meeting discussed ways to boost economic relations and bilateral trade. The UAE delegation expressed willingness to cooperate in the fields of Financial Technology (FinTech), innovation, research, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Both delegations agreed that there was an enormous untapped potential in the area of economic cooperation and agreed to hold a meeting of the Joint Economic Commission in the near future.
In 2019, the Embassy of Lithuania was opened in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE. Edminas Bagdonas serves as the Ambassador to the UAE. The Lithuanian expat community in the UAE is the largest in the region. Most diaspora members live in Dubai.
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