“Today's forum attests to strong and long-lasting economic relations between our countries. Lithuania is proud of its open export-oriented economy, based on agility, flexibility, intellectual curiosity, integrity, and hospitality. Many of these qualities can be identified even in our oldest historical sources,” the President said in his welcoming remarks.
Gitanas Nausėda pointed out that after World War I, with formal political relations between Lithuania and Belgium established for the first time, Belgium became one of our most important trade partners. The feeling of mutual trust and confidence continues today, and trade between Lithuania and the Kingdom of Belgium has increased by 46 percent since 2016.
The President underlined that Lithuania represents an inspiring story of economic success. Its GDP per capita has been growing at a phenomenal pace, ranking only behind Ireland among the EU member states.
“We have built a strong diversified manufacturing sector. Our innovative and high-tech sectors, such as life sciences, lasers and financial technologies, are currently spearheading the general drive. Continuous manufacturing requires stable energy sources. Over the past decade, we have completed huge electricity and gas infrastructure investment projects, including the crucially important LNG terminal. Our energy sector is supplemented by a growing number of new solar and wind farms, and we are on the way to building one of the first offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea,” the President said.
Gitanas Nausėda emphasized that Lithuania's energy strategy has paid off: in April this year, Lithuania became the first EU country to get rid of Russian energy imports altogether.
“Today's energy crisis shows us a clear direction. Europe has a golden opportunity to shift away from Russian energy sources, to accelerate its transition to a more secure and sustainable energy, and to significantly expand the use of renewable energy sources. It is my sincere wish that the Lithuanian and Belgian business communities join forces in this enterprise. Our success will depend on our courage and willingness to embrace new ideas, and the end result will benefit our societies,” the President said.
