News

On 28 May, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius met with Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the Minister of Communication and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi.

In the first official meeting between the Foreign Ministers of the two countries, Zarif expressed hope that this visit would open a new page in intergovernmental relations and would lay the foundation for fostering more systematic cooperation. Linkevičius drew attention to the fact that Lithuanian businessmen took interest in Iran’s market and called on the country’s institutions to create conditions to take advantage of new business opportunities. Iran’s Foreign Minister noted that agriculture was a natural field of cooperation between the countries, Iran also took interest in cooperation in the fields of education, science and technology, telecommunications, and the strengthening of the relationship between the two nations through the promotion of cultural exchanges and tourism was also very important.

The Iranian Foreign Minister expressed hope that the newly-elected Iranian Parliament that had convened for its first session on the day of the Foreign Ministers’ meeting would resume activities of the Iran-Lithuania Parliamentary Friendship Group.

The Foreign Ministers also exchanged opinions on security situation in hotspots, especially in eastern Ukraine, Syria, and Iraq, and discussed the new common threats – the spread of terrorism and extremism.

At the end of the meeting, the Foreign Ministers of Lithuania and Iran signed a Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral consultations between the Foreign Ministries.

“This is not just a formal document. It opens a new page in political relations between Lithuania and Iran. Our nations have always maintained friendly relations without any ‘dark spots’ in the fabric of their bilateral ties. We are grateful that Iran was among the first countries that officially recognized Lithuania’s independence (on 10 September 1991) after the coup attempt in Moscow and acknowledged that the 1930 Agreement of Friendship between the Republic of Lithuania and the Persian Empire was in force,” said Linkevičius.

In the meeting with Linkevičius, Iran’s Minister of Communication and Information Technology Vaezi expressed his gladness that namely he was the Foreign Minister at the time when Iran officially recognized Lithuania’s independence in 1991.

Vaezi said that the Iranian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology was familiar with and highly appreciated Lithuania’s Information Technology sector and products developed by enterprises in the field. Iran is interested in the e-governance, e-commerce and e-health software, and Information Technology platforms developed by Lithuanian companies, programmes for the protection of networks developed by Lithuanian experts, as well as cooperation in the field of cyber security.

The Iranian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology is ready to mediate the strengthening ties between the Iranian and Lithuanian information technology companies. The Minister Vaezi conveyed an invitation to the Lithuanian Minister of Transport and Communications to visit Iran.