Ambassador: Belarus is becoming a more reliable partner for Lithuania

MINSK, 7 June (BelTA) - Belarus is becoming a more reliable partner for Lithuania, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Lithuania to Belarus Evaldas Ignatavicius said in an interview to the TV Belarus-1 channel, BelTA learned

Investments and the contracts signed between the two countries are a good testimony to this, said the diplomat. “If there is a flow of investments, and they make up tens of millions of euros, this means something. Businessmen believe there are good business growth opportunities,” said Evaldas Ignatavicius. Another step is the contracts on the investment in the seaport of Klaipeda, he added.

The Ambassador noted that the main interest of Lithuania in respect of Belarus lies in the Eastern Partnership. “Here we see very specific objectives, goals: completion of some agreements on free trade with such countries as Moldova, Georgia, the signing of such agreement with Ukraine. We would also like to see some progress in the dialogue between the European Union and Belarus,” Evaldas Ignatavicius said. According to him, Lithuania’s Presidency in the EU will contribute to the intensifying of this dialogue (from 1 July 2013).

One of the priorities of the Eastern Partnership is transport - the so-called transport corridors, routes, motorways of the EU and the neighboring states, including Belarus. For Lithuania this is vitally important,” the Lithuanian Ambassador said. The diplomat outlined a number of current projects with the participation of Belarus, including the Viking cargo train service connecting the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea.

On the whole, there are many common challenges facing Lithuania and Belarus, said Evaldas Ignatavicius. The interaction is not limited to transport and borders. This also includes energy, and other fields.

In the past two years, the relations between the two countries have been somewhat quiet, in particular the relations between the business communities. Now, according to the diplomat, "we are returning to the topics and the intensity that we had in 2010." “Then we had good dynamics. Today the situation is beginning to change which makes us happy. This is important for Lithuania, other neighbors of Belarus, and Belarus itself,” the Ambassador said.

Evaldas Ignatavicius stated that recently the trade between Lithuania and Belarus has been growing. The parties succeed in resolving various issues. As for “the image of bad relationships”, which is being imposed on the interaction between the two countries, this image is created primarily from the outside, the diplomat said.

The recent Business Forum of the Single Economic Space aroused a great interest among Lithuanian companies that view Belarus not only in terms of regional cooperation. Today the European companies working in Lithuania understand that by investing in Belarus they automatically get access to the 175-million strong market of the three states of the Single Economic Space. Transport and logistics in new projects are the strong areas of bilateral cooperation. More than 100 million tonnes of European goods are transported via Belarus every year. However, Belarus’ transport capacity is far from being exhausted: Belarusian transport corridors are utilized by not more than 25-40% of their real capacity. Using the capabilities of the rail infrastructure between the countries, Belarus and Lithuania are successfully implementing a joint project of high-speed rail service. On 26 May the two countries increased the number of trains plying between Minsk and Vilnius. The journey time on this route has been reduced to two and half hours.