"Lithuania and Kazakhstan enjoy successful economic cooperation. I am delighted that trade relations between our countries are intensifying, yet the potential in such fields as transport, business, science and high technologies is not fully exploited," the President said.
Bilateral trade turnover in 2013 amounted to almost two billion litas, but there are still many areas where our ties could develop still further. Lithuanian exports to Kazakhstan are growing significantly - they stood at 1.3 billion litas this year. The major part of exports, even 75 percent, is transport services mainly supplied by the shuttle container train Saulė running between Klaipėda, Kazakhstan and China. Principal agreements in this respect were reached during the President's visit to Kazakhstan in 2011 and the train was launched in the same year.
According to the President, Kazakh business people could use more extensively the services offered by the train Saulė and carry cargoes to Europe reliably, quickly and at low cost. For the time being, larger cargo flows are coming from Western Europe to Kazakhstan. Saulė is one of the most effective ways to deliver goods to Europe. The train covers the distance from China to Klaipėda in 13 days, while it takes even 40 days to transport freight from China to Europe by the usual sea route.
Among the perspective fields of cooperation, the President noted, are also information technologies, health tourism, research, innovation, and student exchange. Upon coming into force of the memorandum of cooperation in the spheres of education, science, culture and arts - signed during the President's visit in Kazakhstan - the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences and the public institution Enterprise Lithuania have developed a platform for medical training and services export to Kazakhstan. The programme includes student exchange, qualification courses, and scholarships for Kazakh students.
