News

On 24 February in Vilnius, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis met with Turkey’s Minister for European Union Affairs and Turkey’s chief negotiator for EU accession talks Egemen Bağiş. Important issues of Turkey’s integration into the EU, Lithuania’s and the EU’s political, trade and economic relations with Turkey were discussed.

“We encourage Turkey to continue implementing the EU reforms and to aim at making progress in the negotiations for the EU membership. Lithuania is ready to assist Turkey on its path towards the EU,” head of Lithuania’s diplomacy said.

Minister A.Ažubalis suggested strengthening bilateral institutional cooperation by sharing Lithuania’s experience of integration into the EU.

As a measure of strengthening the EU-Turkey transport links, the Minister invited Turkey to join the agreement of Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine on high-speed freight train Viking that connects the Baltic and the Black Sea regions.

“This project would strengthen economic cooperation between Lithuania and Turkey,” Minister A.Ažubalis said.

During the meeting, the Minister said that Turkey was an important partner of Lithuania within NATO.

Minister A.Ažubalis thanked E.Bağiş for the decision of the Government of Turkey to grant a visa-free regime for Lithuanian tourists travelling to Turkey. The Minister highlighted the need to develop the EU-Turkey cooperation on energy issues, particularly in the implementation of the Nabucco project. The Ministers also discussed the situation in the South Caucasus.

In 2009, Lithuania’s foreign trade with Turkey amounted to 480 million Litas. On 1 October 2009, Turkey’s direct investments in Lithuania amounted to 1.1 million Litas. There are no direct investments of Lithuania in Turkey.