During the meeting, the Vice-Ministers noted that the friendly relationship between Japan and Lithuania, the 25th anniversary of which would be marked next year, had recently become particularly rich through an active political dialogue, a very intense cooperation in the fields of science and innovations, a growing bilateral trade and tourist flows, and developing cultural relations.
The Vice-Ministers also discussed the progress of negotiations on a strategic partnership agreement and a free trade agreement between Japan and the European Union, cooperation between Lithuania and Japan within the United Nations, other relevant international issues.
"The first Japanese diplomat in Lithuania Chiune Sugihara, the former Japanese Vice-Consul in Kaunas, was awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations for the part he played in the rescue of thousands of Jews who were fleeing the Nazi roundups. The memory of this noble personality, commitment to common values of democracy and peace unite Lithuania and Japan," said Karoblis.
According to the Vice-Minister, today we have many new opportunities to benefit from cooperation between a rapidly growing economy of a member state of the European Union - Lithuania – and Japan, which has one of the world's largest economies.
"Together we can do so much to allow innovations and a rapid development of science and technology to help us to most effectively address key issues of progress and well-being of the people," said Karoblis.
Opportunities and achievements in Lithuania's life sciences sector are also being broadly presented during the Vice-Minister's visit to Japan.
When speaking at the BioJapan 2015 World Business Forum, Karoblis stressed that in the field of life sciences Lithuania was a leader in the Baltic region and invited the guests of the forum to participate in the international forum Life Sciences Baltics 2016, which would take place in Vilnius in September.
The Vice-Minister also discussed the potential for cooperation with Lithuania in the fields of life sciences, pharmacy and biotechnology also with the Chairman of Japan's Forum for Innovative Regenerative Medicine (FIRM) Yuzo Toda, representatives of the Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster, consisting of more than 300 Japanese companies, and the Executive Director of Japan Bioindustry Association (JBA) Yoshiaki Tsukamoto.
During the visit, the public institution Enterprise Lietuva and Japan Bioindustry Association signed a cooperation agreement.
