Minister Gustas invited members of the delegation to attend science forum Life Sciences Baltics 2016 that will take place in Lithuania.
"Activities of the American-Lithuanian Business Council are important to both Lithuanian and US companies. The Council helps find new trade and investment opportunities in Lithuania and assists solving problematic issues. The US is becoming Lithuania's ever important economic partner. Cooperation between the American-Lithuanian Business Council and the Ministry of Economy is also growing stronger," said Gustas.
During the meeting, representatives of the Council took interest in changes in the labour relations and Lithuania's education system, relating it with the market need for qualified specialists. Members of the Council were also interested in opportunities to contribute with their insight and experience to improve the aforementioned areas. According to Eric Stewart, President of the American-Lithuanian Business Council, Lithuania is the right country to develop business in – it has made progress in improving business environment. International ratings also prove this: in 2015 Lithuania was placed 15th of 178 countries based on the Index of Economic Freedom.
Participants of the meeting agreed that the US is becoming an ever important trading and investment partner of Lithuania. According to Gustas, more and more US companies invest and settle in Lithuania. Moreover, bilateral trade and investment growth would be accelerated by the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the European Union and the US.
Next, Lithuania thanked the Americans for their support of Lithuania's accession to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Not so long ago Lithuania has been invited to launch accession negotiations.
Economy Minister Gustas informed the Council that the new Labour Code submitted to Parliament would improve flexibility as regards working hours, overtime, working contracts, employment and dismissal etc.
The Economy Ministry's measures seeking to improve business environment were discussed at the meeting: the licensing reform, administrative burden mitigation, reform of business supervision institutions, achievements in improving Doing Business index etc.
The American-Lithuanian Business Council was also introduced to Lithuania's goal to attract investment in research and development and innovation promotion.
The meeting with the American-Lithuanian Business Council was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Economy, public organisations Enterprise Lithuania and Invest Lithuania, and the Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology.
The American-Lithuanian Business Council is comprised of representatives of companies Exelon, Lilly, Parsons, Raytheon, Strategic Staffing Solutions, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Western Union.
