Interview: Lithuania expects deeper cooperation with China: PM

Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius told Xinhua on Friday that the Baltic country will step up cooperation with China in the fields of politics, economy, culture, education, science and technology in the near future.

The interview was made just days after the visit of Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli to Lithuania, which the Lithuanian prime minister hailed "of great significance" for bilateral cooperation.

"I am certain that this visit will bring our countries closer together through increased cooperation in the fields of economy, transport, logistics, culture and education," Butkevicius said.

Noting that the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1991, the head of Lithuanian government said that the bilateral relations of the two countries have been growing steadily.

"Lithuania can be attractive to China not only due to its geographical location, but also to the developed infrastructure, favorable tax base and a supply of qualified workforce," Butkevicius said.

"Lithuania has the most attractive conditions for foreign investment and the development of Chinese businesses. We can cooperate in areas such as logistics, transport, trade, as well as high technologies," he continued.

Butkevicius said China is welcome to invest into Lithuania's industrial companies that produce goods from semi-finished goods and separate parts brought from China.

Moreover, the prime minister aid his country is ready to contribute to the implementation of China-proposed Belt and Road initiative, "which is worldwide important."

"Lithuania can contribute with its developed transport sector and necessary infrastructure," he stressed.

Butkevicius said that the container train "Sun" is a successfully implemented intermodal logistics chain between the East and the West, and can contribute to the initiative.

He added that logistics centers and distribution warehouses can be established in Klaipeda sea port or in the Klaipeda free economic zone, saying Klaipeda sea port is ready to become the regional centre of goods and freight distribution.

"I am pleased to note the growing number of Lithuanian companies discovering the Chinese market," Butkevicius said. "Over the last three years, we have seen tripled exports from Lithuania to China," which clearly shows the interest of the Lithuanian businesses to expand trade and economic cooperation with China, according to the prime minister.

"However, there still remains much untapped commercial potential, and more efforts need to be taken in this regard," he said.

Besides the potential of cooperation on economy, transportation, investment, and infrastructure, Butkevicius said that personnel and cultural exchanges between the two countries have been strengthened.

He said the two countries have signed an agreement on the mutual recognition of higher education qualifications, expressing confidence that the agreement will motivate more Chinese students to come to Lithuania for higher education "of the European standard."

The head of Lithuanian government said cultural events held last and this year have made people in the two countries know each other better.

Artists from both countries are visiting each other and bringing excellent performances to local people.

Lithuania is a Baltic country with high level of basketball, and Lithuanian national team's coach Jonas Kazlauskas used to work in China as coach of Chinese national basketball team.

"Basketball is one more area where there is great potential for bilateral relations," Butkevicius said. "We have great opportunities for strengthening our bilateral relations in the areas of culture, education and sports." Endit