Lithuania looks for more cooperation with China
- By K. M. Rehan Salahuddin
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China.org.cn, October 14, 2011
This year marks the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Lithuania and China. K. M. Rehan Salahuddin, a freelancer and contributor to China.org.cn, spoke with Lithuanian Ambassador Lina Antanavičienė about the bilateral ties in Beijing on September 28.
![K. M. Rehan Salahuddin(R), a freelancer and contributor to China.org.cn, talks with Lithuanian Ambassador Lina Antanavičienė(L) in Beijing, September 28. [China.org.cn]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20111014/000cf1bdd03f1002169638.JPG "K. M. Rehan Salahuddin(R), a freelancer and contributor to China.org.cn, talks with Lithuanian Ambassador Lina Antanavičienė(L) in Beijing, September 28. [China.org.cn]") |
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K. M. Rehan Salahuddin(R), a freelancer and contributor to China.org.cn, talks with Lithuanian Ambassador Lina Antanavičienė(L) in Beijing, September 28. [China.org.cn] |
Salahuddin: After the 2010 World Expo, the Chinese know more about Lithuania than before. How has Chinese interest in Lithuania changed?
Antanavičienė: The Chinese knew about Lithuania even before the Expo. Today they know even more. The truth is that the new generation may know Lithuania from one angle, while the old generation may know it from another.
Today Lithuania is known as a modern independent North European country, member of the European Union, integral part of a common EU market and also active and responsible member of the international community. Lithuania is a safe, green and clean country…. We have long history and rich culture that we are proud of. Our old cities with unique architecture as well as our internationally recognized resorts are perfect tourism destinations.
At the Expo people saw different facts about Lithuania. The Chinese found that we are open-minded, friendly people, crazy about basketball and fishing; that we love good beer and we eat a lot of potatoes. We fly hot air balloons, but not only that, we have international airports, we are biggest transport hub in the Baltics, we have the speediest Internet in the world and many more interesting things to discover. …
S: Bilateral trade between China and Lithuania increased 27 times from 2000 to 2008, followed by a steady growth of nearly 20 to 25 percent in recent years. Is Lithuania willing to be the trade and investment hub of China in the Baltic Region?
A: Lithuania is a very open economy. Open for every fair business activities. We have history of steadily growing economic relations with China our trade turnover is the biggest among Baltic countries.
We are very much happy with the dynamics, but we understand that there are huge untapped possibilities for our cooperation with China.
Lithuanian imports from China consist of 2.5 percent of our total import, while exports to China are only 0.1 percent. The growth of our exports to China is impressive last year our exports increased by more than 30 percent, but the amount is still not big.
We are on a very good track to boost cooperation between Lithuania and China. Lithuanian ministers of foreign affairs and economy and agriculture visited not only Beijing, but also Xiamen, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hefei. The number of visits demonstrates that the Lithuanian government is very serious about working with China. It is a clear political message that we are willing to cooperate with China.
All three ministers were followed by business delegations it shows that our businesses are serious in their intentions as well. …
Such visits clearly show that we are interested in becoming a more serious trade partner for China, especially when it comes to our exports. We need to balance our trade. We are interested in Chinese investment, especially those in hi-tech sectors.
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