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On 19 October in Vilnius, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vygaudas Ušackas welcomed participants of the Asia-Europe Transport Development Forum and met with the Minister of Transport of the People’s Republic of China.

In the opinion of Minister V.Ušackas, this forum provides a possibility for business representatives to present their proposals for the Asia-Europe (ASEM) Transport Ministers’ Meeting (ASEM), which is taking place on 19-20 October in Vilnius.

According to the head of Lithuania’s diplomacy, transportation is one of the most important driving forces in the revival of the world's economy.

In the opinion of the Minister, it is in the interest of Lithuania as well as  of the whole region to promote intercontinental corridor projects both to the Black Sea and to the Caspian Sea and Central Asia region, as well as rail traffic to Russia and further to Eastern Asia. Lithuania has an interest in discovering its own niche in the exchange of goods, services and ideas between the European Union and Asia.

The Minister expressed satisfaction that representatives from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, who were taking part in the forum, helped to shape new cooperation between Europe and Asia, as full capacity transportation links between the EU and Asia would be impossible without their involvement.

During the forum, Minister V.Ušackas also met with Chinese Minister of Transport Li Shenglin and discussed bilateral economic cooperation, assessed perspectives of implementing specific projects in the sectors of transportation and logistics, reviewed the development of communications system between Europe and Asia, and presented possibilities for Lithuania in the development of international European-Asian transportation corridors.

The Ministers agreed that cooperation in the field of transportation was a very important precondition for the development of economic exchange.

“I expect that Chinese businessmen will estimate Lithuania as a share of the  EU market,  which has half a billion of consumers and where it is convenient to develop your own business,” Minister V.Ušackas said.

Over 200 foreign enterprises are taking part in the Asia-Europe Transport Development Forum on 19 October in Vilnius. The main goal of the business forum is to discuss important issues of cooperation between Europe and Asia in the areas of transportation and logistics, to identify priority development guidelines for a well-balanced transportation policy development, to evaluate the potential of land and water transport alternatives when developing European-Asian multimodal logistics chains and to make optimal decisions for the implementation of transportation infrastructure projects.

The meeting of ASEM is organised with a goal for Lithuania to take a more active part in the process of shaping global and regional transportation policy, also to enhance the image of Lithuania as a transit country on the international arena and to attract freight volumes from Asian countries.