LITHUANIA’S FOREIGN MINISTER DISCUSSED POSSIBILITIES FOR IMPROVING THE INVESTMENT ENVIRONMENT IN LITHUANIA
On 15 March in Vilnius, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis took part in the meeting of the Commission for Monitoring the Investment Environment. During the meeting, the draft of the Lithuanian Investment Promotion Strategy for 2010-2020 and suggestions of the members of the commission on the ways to improve the investment environment in Lithuania were discussed.
The Minister stressed the necessity to increase awareness about Lithuania in the world and called on other members of the commission to make suggestions on the ways to present Lithuanian abroad, as the Lithuanian diplomatic service is also ready to contribute to the implementation of the suggestions.
According to Minister A.Ažubalis, the image of the state has to essentially reflect the real situation in the state. The Minister said that the image of the state would be naturally shaped by improving the investment environment, developing the economy and creating new jobs.
Minister A.Ažubalis thinks that when aiming to be the best in the region, Lithuania competes with its neighbours. However, close cooperative relations with them have to be fostered. Lithuania’s Foreign Minister and Latvia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs raised the idea that was supported by other Baltic Sea States to establish a group of wise men for defining the identity of the Baltic Sea region and suggesting potential directions of cooperation in the region.
During the discussion, Minister A.Ažubalis admitted that he faced a great challenge to strike a balance between the reduced capacity of the economic diplomacy and its ever increasing challenge to promote Lithuania and to attract foreign investments. Therefore, it is necessary to find ways to strengthen the diplomatic representation of the country’s economic interests.
The goal of the Commission for Monitoring the Investment Environment that was established last year at the decision of Lithuania’s Government is to provide suggestions to the Government, ministries, other public and municipal institutions regarding the improvement of Lithuania’s investment environment for foreign investors and attraction of investments.
Members of the commission are: the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Economy, independent experts, and influential top-level managers of international companies, who work on the commission on a voluntary basis.
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