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The strategic partnership between Lithuania and the United States that has been strengthened over the recent 20 years presents a good basis for bilateral trade and investment development, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Audronius Ažubalis said at the meeting which was organized by the American Chamber of Commerce on 10 June in Vilnius and at the discussion on economic relations between Lithuania and the U.S.A.

The Minister welcomed the participants of the event on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Lithuania and the U.S.

“During this period, we established a full-fledged strategic and political partnership, which is an excellent basis for the development of bilateral trade and investments,” A.Ažubalis said.

According to him, the potential of trade and economic cooperation of the two countries has not been fully exploited. Currently, the U.S. is not among Lithuania’s top 10 trade partners and foreign investors.

“We hope that the opening of Lithuania’s trade office in Chicago and the arrival of the first business mission to Lithuania after the re-establishment of diplomatic relations in September will intensify economic relations between the two countries,” the Minister said.

He identified the sectors of renewable energy, innovation, nano-and biotechnology, the provision of services to business and joint Lithuanian-U.S. research projects as having high potential for the development of economic cooperation between the countries”.

American companies, such as Kraft Foods, Philip Morris, Coca-Cola and others were among the first ones to choose Lithuania as a country to expand their business. Recently, such U.S. high technology companies as Thermo Fisher Scientific, Moog, Western Union, IBM, Computer Sciences Corporation and Cisco came to Lithuania. We are also holding talks with potential U.S. investors into the Visaginas nuclear power plant.

The American Chambers of Commerce is a voluntary, non-political, non-profit organization that brings together the American, Lithuanian and other companies and individual businessmen working in Lithuania. The mission of the Chamber is to promote and protect its members’ business interests in Lithuania and the EU and to bridge opportunities for both Lithuanian and American businesses. The organization currently has more than 75 members - companies and individuals.