President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted strong economic ties between Ukraine and Lithuania and expressed hope that the volume of bilateral trade this year would exceed record indicators of the previous year.
Speaking at the opening of the Fifth Ukrainian-Lithuanian Economic Forum in Vilnius, the Head of State thanked the organizers for holding the event and stressed that it was important for him to meet with businessmen and exchange views on how politicians and government officials can improve cooperation between the two countries in trade, economic and investment areas.
“Ukraine and Lithuania are linked by long-standing economic ties. Their roots go back to the times of the trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks" and even deeper. Trade ties between our people have never been broken, have always been actively developed and have taken on new qualitative forms,” the Head of State said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that the Lithuanian entrepreneurs' considerable experience in cooperation with leading European companies and successful adaptation to European standards would allow to jointly increase profitable economic relations and enter the markets of other countries.
“We expect the volume of our bilateral trade in goods and services to exceed last year's record. As my colleague said, $ 2 billion will be better,” the President said.
The President urged Lithuanian business to invest in Ukraine.
“I want to address the representatives of Lithuanian companies present in this hall: today Ukraine is a good place for investment. It is a pleasure that Lithuanian companies not only stayed on the Ukrainian market in recent years, but also continued to develop their investment projects,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed.
"This confirms once again that we are committed to joint further development and have considerable potential for the implementation of new projects," Volodymyr Zelenskyy added.
The President called it symbolic that on November 27, the second Lithuanian solar power plant was opened in the Ivano-Frankivsk region.
«Invest in Ukraine! We hope that the Forum will result in new ideas and mutually beneficial ties between enterprises, companies and individual regions of Ukraine and Lithuania,” the Head of State concluded.
