News

On 30 October, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Petras Vaitiekūnas received new Ambassador of Finland to Lithuania Marja-Liisa Kiljunen. Minister of Foreign Affairs was glad about the close bilateral relations between Lithuania and Finland, and the commercial ties, that are on the rise.

During the first half of 2008, Lithuanian export to Finland rose by 65 per cent., in comparison with the first half of 2007. It has reached 323.7 million litas. Minister noted that Finland was in the eight position among the biggest investors in Lithuania.

P.Vaitiekūnas thanked Finland, which is currently presiding over the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), for a very important role and its contribution to the solution of conflict in Georgia.

The Ambassador of Finland expressed hope that economic cooperation between countries would become even more active in the future. M.-L.Kiljunen noted that she would make efforts to further intensify bilateral relations between Lithuania and Finland, as well as regional cooperation of the Nordic and Baltic countries in the formats of NB6 (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark) and NB8 (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland) and in the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS). She noted the importance of Russia’s participation in the regional cooperation.

During the meeting possibilities for further cooperation between Lithuania and Finland and the situation in Belarus were discussed.

The Ambassador of Finland to Lithuania M.-L.Kiljunen presented credentials to the President of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus on 17 September.

M.-L.Kiljunen is the fourth Ambassador of Finland after the restoration of Lithuania’s independence.