Klaipėda Seaport – great transit corridor between two continents, Prime Minister of Lithuania says

Algirdas Butkevičius, Prime Minister of Lithuania, emphasized the importance of cooperation between Europe and Asia when speaking at a high level Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Italy.

“When we speak about the aim of stimulating financial and economic growth in our countries, the key phrase is ‘a strong cooperation between European and Asian markets,’ ” said the Prime Minister and noted that in order to maintain the growth of trade it is necessary to use the existing transit corridors like the Klaipėda Seaport and other logistics chains. Prime Minister stressed the fact that the Baltic countries have a well-developed infrastructure that would satisfy the business needs of Asian countries that transport goods to the European Union (EU).

According to the Prime Minister, further efforts in developing the East-West transport corridor are necessary not only for sustaining, but also for stimulating economic growth. The Head of Government invited the guests to consider the opportunity to renew the format of the meeting of European and Asian transport ministers.

Because of the increasing interest in developing transport and transit flows to China and other ASEM countries, meetings of this kind have been held in Lithuania and China in 2009 and 2011. During the meetings, Lithuania, Belarus and China signed a trilateral declaration on the development of the West transport corridor.