Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh and President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite pledged to reinforce bilateral cooperation, especially in the economy, trade and investment, during their talks in Vilnius city on October 23 (local time). 

Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh (fourth, left) and Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite

The Vietnamese leader, who is in Lithuania from October 22-24, spoke highly of close coordination between the two countries at multilateral mechanisms such as the United Nations, the UNESCO and the Asia-Europe Meeting over the past years. 

She asked Lithuania to support Vietnam’s bid to strengthen ties with the European Union (EU) and push forward the early signing and ratification of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). 

Thinh proposed that Lithuania continues creating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community living in the country. 

Grybauskaite, for her part, suggested cooperating together in the fields of renewable industry, innovation, energy, waste treatment and wood processing and continuing to work closely together at multilateral forums. 

The two leaders agreed to promptly negotiate and sign agreements on economic and education cooperation, double taxation avoidance, visa waiver for diplomatic passport holders, thus creating a synchronous legal framework for bilateral multifaceted collaboration in the near future. 

Meeting Speaker of the Seimas (parliament) of Lithuania Viktoras Pranckietis, Thinh said the Vietnamese government is working to improve business climate to attract foreign investors and hoped that more Lithuanian firms will be keen on doing business in Vietnam. 

She sought the host country’s support for Vietnamese agro-fisheries to enter its market, adding that Vietnam will make it easier for goods of Lithuania’s strength to navigate the market. 

Pranckietis wished to increase the exchange of delegations between the two countries as well as economic-trade and investment ties with Vietnam, focusing on food and information technology, wooden furniture, education-training, people-to-people exchange and tourism. 

He expressed his appreciation for ASEAN-EU ties, and support to Vietnam-EU relations, including the signing and ratification of EVFTA, believing that the deal will bring economic-trade-investment benefits to the both sides.

VNA