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On 21 October Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius met with the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sweden, Stefan Lofven, on his official visit to Lithuania. The leaders of Governments discussed bilateral relations between Lithuania and Sweden, regionally significant issues of energy and transport, and topical issues related to the EU.

“Honourable Prime Minister, once again I congratulate you on the successful formation of the new Government of your country and on becoming its leader. I assure you that Lithuania is determined to closely cooperate and further strengthen our bilateral relations in order to attain our common goals for the welfare of our people,” talked the Prime Minister A. Butkevičius in the meeting.

According to the Head of Government of the Republic of Lithuania, bilateral economic relations are very dynamic – the trade is growing and Sweden remains the largest investor in Lithuania. However, the potential for investment in sectors like finance, banking and insurance is not yet fully realized.

 Prime Minister A. Butkevičius noted that on 14 October Seimas ratified the Lithuania and Sweden agreement on an exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf borders in the Baltic Sea. Both Prime Ministers were glad that this border (15 km length) not only legitimizes all borders of the Republic of Lithuania, exceptional economic zones and the border of the continental shelf, but also increases energy security – the NordBalt power interconnection cable is being laid over this border, which will allow for a single electricity market in the Baltic States and Scandinavia to be established and will increase energy independence from Russia.

“Strong bilateral and regional cooperation in the area of energy security is more important than ever. Events in Ukraine illustrate the limitations in Europe’s energy security. Together we must pay constant attention to the projects envisaged in the European Energy Security Strategy for the integration of the Baltic States into the EU market,” said the Prime Minister. “We believe that the integration of energy islands should go further than connecting them to the internal energy market - synchronization of the Baltic States’ networks with the rest of the continental Europe is of utmost importance.”

Transport issues were also discussed during the meeting. Prime Minister A. Butkevičius encouraged Swedish businesses to take full advantage of well-developed Lithuanian transport services, including Klaipėda Sea Port and international cargo rail projects. The Head of Government urged to take into consideration the container train Vikingas which goes to/from Odesa and Klaipėda, and connects the Baltic and the Black Sea regions.

“The advantages of this train when transporting transit cargo is the time (it takes only 52 hours for the train to cross the distance from Odesa to Klaipėda), simplified customs procedures and transportation costs that are one third or even 50 percent lower compared to motor transport,” explained the Prime Minister of Lithuania and emphasized that Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Bulgaria and Romania have already joined the Viking project, while this year the first train to Turkey will set off.

 The Social Democrat Prime Ministers of Lithuania and Sweden dedicated time to discuss the topical issues related to the EU, namely the new composition of the European Commission and reduction of social exclusion in Europe. The Heads of Governments agreed that close attention must be paid to the reduction of unemployment, economic growth and investment promotion.

 This was the first official visit of the Sweden’s Prime Minister S. Lofven in Lithuania. On 14 September this year, in the elections to the Swedish Parliament (Riksdag), the centre-left bloc polled 43.7% of the votes, centre-right Alliance - 39.3% and Sweden Democrats - 13%. The Social-Democrat Party won 114 seats, Conservatives – 8 and Sweden Democrats - 48 seats respectively. On 2 October the leader of the Social-Democrat party S. Lofven was elected the new Prime Minister of Sweden.