News

On 16 June in Vilnius, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs met with members of the British Chamber of Commerce in Lithuania, American Chamber of Commerce, French Chamber of Commerce and Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Lithuania, German-Baltic Chamber of Commerce and European Business Network.

During the working lunch, the strengthening of Lithuanian competitiveness and priorities of economic and Lithuania’s European foreign policy were discussed.

In his speech, Minister V.Ušackas emphasized that Lithuania’s liberal business environment and an open economy were attractive to business and investments – this is also testified to in the reports of international organisations and banks. Of course, this global economic crisis is a serious challenge to Lithuania. However, it also provides opportunities for renewal that we should be quick to grasp. In this respect, our Government’s programme is very clear, forceful, and success-oriented.

“The Lithuanian competitiveness will be defined by our successes in achieving a number of practical priority goals, such as introducing the euro, ensuring energy supply diversification, and building energy and transport connections between the Baltic states and the wider world, promoting free trade, focusing on innovations and the need to secure a stable and secure environment,” head of the Lithuanian diplomacy said.

While speaking about introducing the euro, the Minister highlighted that it was a key priority of Lithuania’s European policy. Participation in European economic and monetary union is a basis for creating a stable investment and business environment, and will provide for more rapid and sustainable economic growth.

The Minister stressed the importance of building transport connections and welcomed the EU’s Baltic Sea Strategy, which will provide an opportunity for our region and the EU countries to enhance the competitiveness of the region and to strengthen the EU’s competitive edge on the global market. According to the Minister, Lithuania is especially keen to build regional innovations networks by promoting deeper cross-Baltic cooperation and integration of universities, science and research centres.

The Minister particularly highlighted the importance of energy security, which is one of the key preconditions for business development.

“Our goal is a well-functioning and integrated European internal energy market; strengthening the external energy policy dimension by implementing the principle of solidarity; ensuring the transparency of external supplies, and developing alternative supply sources,” indicated Minister V.Ušackas.

The Minister was glad that British bank Barclays intends to arrive on Lithuania’s business scene along with recent arrivals of large international companies (CSC, American IMB, Mircrosoft, TietoEnator, Dematic, Rentokil, etc.), which function successfully in our country.