The Council was launched two years ago in Washington during a meeting with President Dalia Grybauskaitė. It comprises nine U.S. corporations investing in our country: Exelon Nuclear Partners, Fluor, Phillip Morris, Western Union, Strategic Staffing Solutions, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Parsons, Lilly, and Johnson and Johnson.
"U.S. investments in Lithuania are growing. Major American companies open their branches in our country, new service centers are emerging. It means that Lithuania is a good place for investment, with an attractive business environment," the President said.
Over the past five years, American business people started 25 large projects in Lithuania, creating more than 2 000 jobs. Last year the trade turnover between Lithuania and the United States amounted to 1.2 billion euros. Google, Nasdoq and AIG have expanded into Lithuania. According to the President, this tendency shows that the U.S. businesses trust our country and invest in it.
During the meeting, the President underlined that Lithuania strongly supported efforts to conclude as soon as possible negotiations for the free trade agreement between the European Union and the United States, which would not only strengthen relations, but would also boost economic ties. The President pointed out that Lithuania was among the staunchest supporters of the EU-U.S. agreement: nearly 80 percent of the people in Lithuania approved of the deal.
