News

On 26 March Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Petras Vaitiekūnas and Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma visiting Lithuania  discussed perspectives of further development of bilateral relations, issues of diplomatic and consular representation, as well as possibilities to develop economic cooperation. Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs P.Vaitiekūnas informed that in order to tackle the question of the issue of Lithuanian visas to Indian citizens Lithuania had an intention to establish a Consulate General in India as soon as possible. He also suggested establishing India’s Diplomatic Representation in Vilnius.

Indian Minister of State for External Affairs says that Lithuania is one of India’s priority countries for establishing an embassy.

The Ministers agreed on the earliest possible preparation of the main economic agreements on the Investment Promotion and Protection and on the Avoidance of Double Taxation, as well as the Agreement on Extradition. Hopefully, the agreements will be signed by the end of the year during the planned visit of Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs to India. Mr Sharma underlined that the visit of Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs to India with the business delegation would contribute to promotion of closer Lithuanian-Indian economic cooperation.

The Ministers of Lithuania and India noticed that the present bilateral trade volumes did not reflect the potential of both countries. The Ministers expect that a successful solution of consular and diplomatic representation issues, as well as signing of the economic agreements can give a new impetus to the investors.

Mr Sharma indicated that India was interested to cooperate closer with Lithuania in the areas of energy infrastructure development, informational technologies, creation of the Knowledge Society and other areas, as well as in the academic and cultural exchange. According to the Minister of India, Indian investment in the European Union is very large and it is realistic that it could be attracted to Lithuania.

The biggest Asian investor in Lithuania is an Indian company “Indorama” based in Thailand, which has invested €100 million.

The Minister of India announced an initiative of the EXIM Bank of India to provide Lithuania with a $10 million credit line.

Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs invited India to cooperate with Lithuania on common civil projects in the Ghor province of Afghanistan, where Lithuania leads the Provincial Reconstruction Team. The Minister of India marked that India contributes actively to the reconstruction of Afghanistan.