The President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda informed about Lithuania‘s decision to join the 3SIIF and allocate 20 million euros for the implementation of priority projects under the initiative at the Three Seas virtual summit in Tallinn on 19 October 2020.
The Three Seas Initiative (3SI) is a political platform, at Presidential level, launched in 2015. It brings together the 12 EU member states located between the Adriatic, the Baltic and the Black Seas: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. The United States, Germany and the European Commission are partners of this project.
“The COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences have highlighted the growing importance of regional cooperation, well-developed infrastructure, and its interconnections. Therefore, it is very important to deepen political and economic cooperation among the 3SI countries, enabling the format to contribute to the economic recovery of the region and the EU after the Covid-19 outbreak,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis, who also stressed the importance of further involvement of the U.S., Germany, and the European Commission in the 3SI format.
The Fund’s main objective is to invest in transport, energy and digital infrastructure in the Three Seas countries and to offset the regional development differences in the European Union.
Lithuania’s participation in the activities of the Fund increases funding opportunities for national infrastructure projects, strengthens the Euro-Atlantic partnership and cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries, and its neighbours.
As authorised by the Government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinates the participation of Lithuanian institutions and business organisations in the 3SI, and ensures preparation for events in this format.
