'Israel is our strategic partner in the Middle East Region. I believe that this visit will intensify our bilateral relationship. This year is an exceptional year from the statehood point of view – Lithuania marks the 100th anniversary of the restoration of the State and Israel marks the 70th anniversary of its statehood. We are delighted by the intensified cooperation as well as ties between the countries. In particular, Lithuania and Israel are brought together by numerous historic and cultural ties and experiences', said the Prime Minister.
According to the Head of the Government, strengthening of economic bilateral links and more active intergovernmental cooperation is one of the priorities, thus it would be appropriate to set up a panel for intergovernmental cooperation to accelerate the said processes.
The participants of the meeting agreed that it is particularly important to foster further close relationship in the fields of education and science, defence industry and technologies. In the course of the discussions it was concluded that more intense business-to-business contacts must be ensured. Israel is one of the global leaders in the field of innovations, thus Lithuania would expect a more active dialogue in the field of innovation policies and more active use thereof in the course of commercial activity.
As regards international relations, it was highlighted that Lithuania is ready to act as a mediator in strengthening the cooperation between Israel and the European Union. In addition, it was noted that it would make sense to exchange valuable experience which could help to ensure national security.
Moreover, it was emphasised that more and more tourists from Israel discover Lithuania and direct flights to Israel will be operated 5 times a week from Vilnius and Kaunas from October. This should contribute to the increase of tourist flows. The Prime Minister invited the air carriers of Israel to make use of the infrastructure of Kaunas and Šiauliai air ports and noted that Lithuania could become a freight distribution centre of Israel.
The participants of the meeting also noted that Israel is an important partner of Lithuania in the field of military acquisitions. Dialogue on issues related to conventional and hybrid threats as well as cybersecurity is particularly important to Lithuania. The participants welcomed the signing of the intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the field of public security and fight against crime a few months ago.
The discussions included the topic concerning the threat posed by the Astravets nuclear power plant as well.
