News

On 19 October, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vygaudas Ušackas welcomed participants of the Asia-Europe Transport Development Forum, which is held in Vilnius, 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 at the Asia-Europe (ASEM) Transport Ministers’ Meeting (ASEM) on 19-20 October in Vilnius.

According to the head of Lithuania’s diplomacy, transport is one of the most important factors in world economy revival.

In the opinion of the Minister, Lithuania and the entire region are interested to develop projects of transcontinental transport corridors in the regions of the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea and the Central Asian regions, as well as railway communication with Russia and Central Asia. It is in Lithuania’s interests to discover 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, and that without their involvement full capacity transport connections between the EU and Asia would be impossible.

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

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

“I expect that Chinese businessmen will estimate Lithuania as the EU market share, which has half a milliard 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. The main goal of the business forum is to discuss important issues of cooperation between Europe and Asia in the areas of transport and logistics, to identify priority development directions for a well-balanced transport policy, 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 transport infrastructure projects.

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