Press releases, 27.3.2006

Minister Lehtomäki to visit Lithuania

Press release 81/2006
27.3.2006


Paula Lehtomäki, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, will visit Lithuania on 29 March.

The purpose of Minister Lehtomäki’s visit is to give Lithuanian decision-makers information about the priorities of Finland’s approaching EU Presidency and also to become acquainted with the situation of Finnish enterprises operating in Lithuania. Minister Lehtomäki will hold talks with Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis of Lithuania. Alongside EU affairs, trade policy questions and development policy issues are on the agenda as well. Minister Lehtomäki will also meet with members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on European Affairs of the Seimas, the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania, and she will give a talk presenting the focal areas of Finland’s EU Presidency at the Lithuanian Institute of International Political and Economic Relations.

Furthermore, the itinerary includes a meeting with the Finnish Trade Guild in Vilnius, which will offer the Minister the opportunity to become more widely acquainted with the situation of Finnish enterprises operating in Lithuania. Finland is the fifth largest foreign investor in Lithuania. Finnish exports to Lithuania totalled 311 million euros in 2005, while imports from Lithuania amounted to 91 million euros. Finland’s trade with Lithuania is still less than that with Estonia and Latvia. At the end of last year the Lithuanian Defence Forces ordered special multi-axle off-road trucks, for use in international assignments, from the Finnish company Oy Sisu Auto Ab. This 20 million euro deal, with its option for additional deliveries and obligation for counterpurchases, is expected to invigorate economic relations between Finland and Lithuania.

Additional information: Counsellor Ari Tasanen, Unit for Central and Southeastern Europe, tel. +358 9 1605 5630, and Pirjo-Liisa Heikkilä, Press Attaché to the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, tel. +358 9 1605 5356, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.