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Interview: Lithuania highlights cooperation with China under Silk Road initiative: vice minister

Xinhua, June 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

Lithuania aims to handle 2.3 percent of the total trade volume between China and Europe by 2030 via the One Belt and One Road initiative, according to Arijandas Sliupas, vice minister of transport and communications of Lithuania.

"For this particular reason, we will build up partnerships along the Silk Road. And we are very familiar with the New Silk Road, and the One Belt and One Road initiative of China," said Sliupas in an interview with Xinhua.

According to the vice minister, by cooperating with China and Kazakhstan, Lithuania can create value in the supply chain between China and Europe.

Both China and Kazakhstan are of strategic importance to the Baltic country, said Sliupas.

Regarding the cooperation with China, he said: "I believe that there is big potential of cooperating on the infrastructure development projects, as well as operating together the container trains."

The Baltic country is planning a visit to China by its highest government delegation in order to make sure that the two sides set specific goals of cooperation.

The current cooperation between China and Lithuania is going in a positive direction, said Sliupas.

"I'm really pleased to see that our efforts of a small country has been seen by China," he noted.

"China and Lithuania have very similar values. We both believe in partnership, in trust, with values of our traditions, and at the same time, we are very pragmatic," he continued.

"Lithuania is a very open-minded country. We are hard-working people as the Chinese. We have the understanding of Eastern European culture, and the Western European mindset," he stressed, when explaining his country to Xinhua.

The politician explained there were some tax incentives which could help Chinese companies enter the European market and the Commonwealth of Independent States market, referring to the potential cooperation between China and Lithuania.

Sliupas told Xinhua that a conference on One Belt and One Road would be held in Lithuania's port city of Klaipeda early in July, with many high level politicians and representatives of Chinese companies present. The conference is to provide opportunities to discuss the details of cooperation between the two countries, he added. Endit