According to the Minister, this week's first North American-Lithuanian Business Forum in Philadelphia, which brought together Lithuanian and North American politicians, business people, representatives of start-ups, business associations, and the diaspora, is an important step in the development and deepening of mutual relations.
The Business Forum also focused on the opportunities for the export of Lithuanian food products to the USA, with a Lithuanian product launch event.
According to Minister Armonaitė, the amendments to the Law on Joint-Stock Companies, which were already approved by the Government last week, will help to improve the investment climate in our country. Lithuania invites North American businesses to invest boldly in our start-ups.
"We have many young, entrepreneurial, growing companies and start-ups in Lithuania that are capable of attracting investment from abroad. The number of US companies setting up in Lithuania is growing every year, and last year alone Lithuania attracted 12 new investment projects from the United States. We hope that our amendments to the law will substantially improve the conditions for growing companies to attract investment, and that businesses will finally be able to issue preferred shares more easily than they have been able to do so so far," said Minister of the Economy and Innovation A. Armonaitė.
The amendments will bring Lithuania closer to the most advanced countries in the private equity market and will help attract and retain more investment in Lithuanian start-ups. Analysts estimate that the Lithuanian start-up sector alone could lose between €100 million and €300 million in investment annually due to the still unclear law on joint stock companies.
The US is a very important trading partner of Lithuania and ranks 6th in terms of trade turnover among Lithuania's 210 trading partners, with a two-way trade turnover of more than USD 3.1 billion between the two countries in 2021. The US is the 12th largest investor in Lithuania and the 2nd largest non-European investor.
