News

The new stage of economic cooperation between Lithuania and Israel was yesterday marked by a meeting of the Minister of Economy of Lithuania and Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour of Israel. A bilateral working group was agreed to be established to help implement specific projects in the field of R&D.

In the meeting of Minister of Economy of Lithuania Rimantas Žylius with Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour of Israel Shalom Simhon and other members of Israeli Official and Business Delegations issues relating to bilateral trade and investments as well as cooperation possibilities in the fields of risk capital, R&D and innovation were discussed.

“It is not only political but also economic aspect to be emphasized in Lithuania’s relations with Israel. The market of Israel is very important for Lithuania, therefore, as soon as February 2012 a commercial attaché of Lithuania will be appointed in Israel. Our companies will have a good chance to evaluate their ability to be interesting to the business community of Israel and learn how to attract investments from Israel as well,” after the meeting, Minister of Economy Rimantas Žylius said.

“It is in my best interest that practical ways of how to foster economic relations between Israel and Lithuania are found. In fact, I will feel most happy when I finally see business contracts signed between both countries as well as other practical work results in place,” said Shalom Simhon, Minister of Industry, Trade and Labour of Israel.

Yesterday, the first ever Lithuanian-Israeli Business Mission was arranged in the Ministry of Economy which brought together representatives from more than 15 Israeli companies. During the mission B2B meetings between Lithuanian and Israeli businessmen were held and three memorandums were signed in the field of standardization (product safety), export and industry.

Israel’s information technology specialists were among those most interested in business possibilities in Lithuania. The Business Mission attracted Israel and Lithuania’s representatives of sectors like textile, food industry, irrigation (watering) systems, defense, finance and agriculture. Lithuania’s metal processing companies and plastics manufacturers were interested in potential ordering from Israel.

“Cooperation between Lithuania and Israel is a strong incentive for us aiming to continue working in the field of innovation. Minister Shalom Simhon who sees our great potential in this field has proposed to establish a bilateral working group in the period of the coming three month to help the implementation of specific projects in the field of R&D,“ Minister Žylius said.

Moreover, Minister Žylius asked Minister Simhon to encourage risk capital funds of Israel to take part in a public tender to be arranged in Lithuania this autumn aimed to select the risk capital fund manager. Besides, Minister Žylius invited the businessmen of Israel to take part in Life Sciences Baltic 2012, an international forum of medicine and physics to be held in Lithuania this autumn.

Both Israeli and Lithuanian sides confirmed their high ambitions towards increasing the level of bilateral trade. Despite Israel ranking 42 as export and 48 as import partner of Lithuania, statistics recently show increase in the trade volumes.

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