Lithuania’s Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Šarūnas Adomavičius took part in bilateral political consultations with representatives from foreign affairs, commerce and transport ministries of the People’s Republic of China.
On 11 November in Beijing, Lithuania’s Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Šarūnas Adomavičius took part in bilateral political consultations with representatives from foreign affairs, commerce and transport ministries of the People’s Republic of China. The consultations focused on bilateral economic and trade relations.
During the consultations with Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Zhang Zhijun, key attention was dedicated to the strengthening of economic relations, and the promotion of trade and investments. Political, cultural, regional and global issues, such as the climate change and energy security were also discussed. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China is invited to pay a visit to Lithuania in 2010.
Possibilities to deepen economic dialogue, especially when promoting the reduction of trade imbalance, were discussed at the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. Vice-Minister Š.Adomavičius stressed that lately China and Lithuania were active in initiating projects that strengthen bilateral economic and trade cooperation. The Vice-Ministers discussed the next Chinese trade mission to Lithuania. The first trade mission to Lithuania was held in August. The delegation was led by the Vice Prime Minister of China.
During the meeting at the Ministry of Transport of China, Vice-Minister Š.Adomavičius thanked China for its cooperation when organising the first ASEM Transport Ministers’ meeting in Vilnius on 19-20 October and promised to cooperate when organising the second ASEM Transport Ministers’ meeting in Asia.
On 10 November, Vice-Minister Š.Adomavičius paid visits to China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations and to Huawei Corporation, the leading global telecommunications solutions provider. During the meeting with Senior Vice President Qu Wenchu, further development of the corporation’s activities in Lithuania was discussed. This company has operated in our country since 2006.
Lithuania established diplomatic relations with China on 14 September 1921, and re-established them on 14 September 1991. The Embassy of China in Lithuania was opened in 1992. Lithuania’s Embassy in China opened in 1995.
In 2008, Lithuania’s exports to China amounted to 18.9 million euros, and Lithuania’s import from China equalled 542 million euros. The trade turnover between Lithuania and China was 560.9 million euros.
ASEM is a dialogue process, which joins all the EU member states and 17 Asian countries. Specific Europe-Asia cooperation projects in the policy, economy and socio-cultural areas are developed at the initiative of the countries that take part in the process.