News

On 2 March, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius met with members of the U.S. business delegation visiting Lithuania and representatives of the American-Lithuanian Business Council (ALBC), discussed opportunities for the development of Lithuania-U.S. economic relations.

Linkevičius stressed that the Lithuanian community in the United States was not only a strategic political, but also an economic partner, so we wished to continue to actively develop relations with our compatriots, especially in businesses that create especially high added value. According to Lithuania’s Foreign Minister, the U.S. corporate investment in Lithuania is appreciated not only for job creation, but also for knowledge, technologies and responsible business practices.

“Even 70 per cent of the U.S. investment is invested in the sectors of Information Technology, service centres, and financial services companies. For the U.S. businesses seeking to be competitive in the EU market and to provide services to their customers in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and in other EU member countries, Lithuania is a country of possibilities,” said Lithuania’s Foreign Minister.

Results of the latest survey, carried out by the American Chamber of Commerce in Lithuania, allegedly also confirmed that. 76 per cent of the U.S. capital enterprises foresee development possibility in our country over the next three years.

According to Linkevičius, the Lithuanian-American Innovation Award that has been launched by the American-Lithuanian Business Council (ALBC) together with partners, reflects the two countries’ interest in promoting joint projects in the field of advanced technology.

The ALBC business mission joins such U.S. companies as Coca-Cola, General Dynamics, Orbital ATK, Oshkosh Defense, Strategic Staffing Solutions (S3), Textron Systems, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Western Union. Some of these companies have many years of experience of working in Lithuania, creating new jobs and introducing new technology. Some of them are defence companies, which are still exploring prospects and planning their activities in our country. On 2 March, their representatives are taking part and presenting themselves in a business forum, which was organized by the Lithuanian National Defence Industries Association in cooperation with the ALBC.

The award was established by the ALBC, the Baltic American Freedom Foundation (BAFF), and the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius that understood the importance of innovation to the economy of Lithuania. The award aims at promoting innovative cooperation between the two countries and is granted to a Lithuanian individual, organization, university, or firm that has developed an innovation in collaboration with a U.S. partner. The award recognizes creative solutions and developments broadly across business and commerce, academic and scientific research, medicine and health, the environment, energy, and education. This year, the awards were granted for the first time. The awards ceremony was held on 1 March. These five finalists were honoured: Dr. Linas Mažutis (1 place), Dr. Rimas Gulbinas and Dr. Virginijus Šikšnys with the team (shared 2nd place), company Deeper, and Softra&Ričardas Čepas.