News

The 4th meeting of the Lithuania-Azerbaijan Intergovernmental Commission on Bilateral Cooperation took place on 22 October in Shamkir, Azerbaijan. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius and Fazil Mammadov, Minister of Taxes of Azerbaijan, chaired the meeting.

Members of the delegation underlined the fact that there was a lot of untapped potential in the areas of trade and investment. They agreed to further strengthen bilateral relations, to exchange information on investment projects and to organize Lithuania-Azerbaijan trade missions to help companies establish contacts with business partners.

The participants highlighted high commercial quality standards of Lithuanian agricultural products, discussed marketing and sales opportunities for the products in Azerbaijan.

The parties agreed to speed up the process of Azerbaijan’s joining the Viking train project and to cooperate in attracting freight from China via the port of Klaipėda.

Special attention was paid to natural gas and oil. The Lithuanian representatives presented the ongoing projects on the gas markets of Lithuania and of the entire region, and invited Azerbaijani energy companies to participate in them.

The participants of the meeting also noted the successful cooperation in implementing joint IT projects.

The countries agreed to organise Culture Days on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Lithuania and Azerbaijan.  They also agreed to more fully exploit the possibilities offered by the Eastern Partnership initiative and to exchange experts and expertise on cultural heritage, cultural and creative industries.

The meeting highlighted the goal of making better use of cooperation opportunities in the field of science and education. The officials underlined the importance of direct contacts of institutions of higher education of both countries and welcomed the fact that about 200 Azerbaijani citizens were studying in Lithuanian higher education establishments in 2014.

Lithuania’s large business delegation also arrived in Shamkir to take part in the 9th Lithuania-Azerbaijan business forum, which was organised by the Lithuanian Business Confederation.

At the meeting, the parties signed the Protocol of Intention on cooperation between the municipalities of Šiauliai and Shamkir.