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China is Lithuania’s main trading partner in Asia, but in bilateral trade we have a significant imbalance, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis said during the conversation with China’s Minister of Commerce Chen Deming on 14 May in Vilnius.

Volumes of Lithuania’s imports from China are about 15 times larger than volumes of exports.

Minister A.Ažubalis also emphasized intensive bilateral relations between governmental institutions and business associations, and expressed trust that this would increase Lithuania’s export volumes to China.

Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs acquainted Chen Deming with strategic investment projects of the state of Lithuania and urged China to invest in Lithuania, especially in infrastructure projects.

China’s Minister of Commerce acknowledged that exports from China dominated in the bilateral trade and said that there was a potential to develop Lithuania’s exports.

According to him, China’s investments in Lithuania could improve the trade balance, but before investing China wanted to assess the investment climate and investment opportunities in Lithuania.

Chen Deming stressed that his country was especially interested in investing in free economic zones (FEZ) in Lithuania. China is also interested in implementing joint bilateral projects in the area of renewable energy.

Chen Deming drew Minister’s attention to obstacles that could arise when building railway corridors for Chinese goods via Kazakhstan, Russia and Lithuania to Europe, because of existing different width of rail gauges in the transit countries, but evaluated positively the exploitation of the Klaipėda sea port for carrying goods by sea in the trade exchanges between China and Eastern European countries.

The Ministers agreed to establish a joint working group, which would discuss investment conditions and would promote Chinese investments in Lithuania. They also agreed to initiate cooperation between separate Lithuanian and Chinese free economic zones.