News

On 22 May, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Petras Vaitiekūnas visited Tauragė, where he met with Tauragė county governor Irena Ričkuvienė, mayor of Tauragė Robertas Piečia, representatives from the Tauragė district municipality and local business community. Possibilities to attract foreign investment and labour force to the region were discussed. During the meeting with business representatives from the Tauragė region at the Tauragė municipality, the Minister acquainted himself with the regional business environment and important problems, talked about the means to intensify economic relations with the neighbouring Kaliningrad.

Businessmen from the Tauragė region were especially interested in the agreement on local traffic to Russia for border territory residents, in which special permits are intended for the residents of border territory to enter the neighbouring country’s territory within 50 km from the border. The permits would be valid for up to five years. Business representatives also requested for a decision regarding the issuance of cheaper visas for citizens of the Eastern countries: Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. This would allow enlivening business relations with the countries.

Regional businessmen also expressed concern about the transit via the Hanseatic Road from Hamburg to St. Petersburg. Because of prolonged transit procedures in the territory of Russia, carriers bypass the Kaliningrad Region and choose a longer route through the Lithuania and Poland’s state border post of Kalvarija. The residents Tauragė would wish for a better transit order and for the Hanseatic Road to go through Tauragė. Thus, new possibilities for business would be created and the region would be revitalized.

During the meetings with representatives from the district municipality and business, Minister P.Vaitiekūnas also discussed the means of development of joint services and infrastructure projects with partners from the Kaliningrad Region, of more effective absorption of the funds of the European Union regional development promotion programmes, of increasing the capacity of the Lithuanian-Russian state border crossing points.

P.Vaitiekūnas invited business representatives to cooperate more actively with Lithuanian diplomatic representations in finding business partners abroad.

The Minister was glad that there were Tauragė district culture days celebrated in Kaliningrad on 16-27 May and approved of the idea to organize joint cultural projects with Kaliningrad in the future.