After the ceremony, D. Tamulaitis and the Director-General discussed Lithuania’s priorities and issues related to WTO. Lithuania’s Permanent Representative emphasized the significance of WTO's reform for stability of the world trading system. He emphasized the importance of the organization’s modernization and the need to create new rules of trade that would help address such problems as subsidies designed to distort international trade and the influence of governments on the economy.
The Lithuanian diplomat emphasized that WTO should facilitate the development of e-commerce, while the new information and financial technologies must be used to find ways to facilitate international trade.
R. Azevêdo thanked Lithuania for its contribution to the strengthening of WTO, as well as for supporting multilateralism and the global trading system. The Director-General agreed that modernization and rules of trade between nations were among WTO’s priorities. He also said that good progress had been made on negotiations on e-commerce. In addition, R. Azevêdo underlined his readiness to continue close cooperation with Lithuania.
Lithuania has been a member of WTO since 2001. Lithuania's economy is heavily dependent on international trade. The country’s membership of WTO facilitates the settlement of trade disputes and helps to open up export markets for Lithuanian firms.
