Kazakhstan and Lithuania Set Course for Further Cooperation

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Roman Vassilenko and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania Mantas Adomenas during another round of Kazakh-Lithuanian political consultations discussed a wide range of issues of bilateral cooperation and the current international agenda in the world, press service of the Kazakh MFA reports.

The parties confirmed that a stable political dialogue has been built between the countries, where mutual understanding is maintained on responding to the most pressing issues of the current geopolitical situation and regional security challenges. Mutual support is also provided at various international platforms for the initiatives of the parties that meet their national interests.

Deputy Minister Vassilenko outlined major work to implement wide-scale reforms initiated by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev o build a "Just Kazakhstan". As noted by Vice Minister Adomenas, "the reform processes in your country are inspiring and will become a foundation for a new level of development of Kazakhstan and its cooperation with the European Union."

Among the most pressing issues discussed during the consultations was trade and economic cooperation and reducing the influence of the current geopolitical situation on it. Lithuania is currently one of the ten largest trading partners for Kazakhstan among the EU countries. In turn, Kazakhstan is among the twenty largest trading partners for Lithuania in the world. Thus, at the end of 2022, the volume of trade increased by 28.7% and amounted to 584.3 million US dollars. In addition to mutual supplies of energy, industrial and agricultural products, the countries are also implementing investment projects. The two officials noted the importance of pursuing an active and concrete dialogue of the sides in order to mitigate the impact of the West’s sanction regimes on Kazakhstan’s economy and the trade and economic cooperation between the two countries.

During the meeting the interlocutors praised the contribution of nine (soon to be 13) honorary consuls of Lithuania in Kazakhstan and three Kazakh honorary consuls in Lithuania in the development of trade and investment cooperation between the two nations.

The participants of the consultations noted that cooperation in the transit transport sphere is a priority area of cooperation between the two countries. In particular, the parties considered the issue of interfacing the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) with railway intermodal terminals in Kaunas and Vilnius, as well as the Klaipeda Seaport. This measure will make it possible to deliver Kazakh and transit cargo to the markets of the Baltic countries, Scandinavia and Western Europe. As chair of the International Transport Forum since May 2023, Lithuania intends to actively promote such interaction. In this light, Vassilenko and Adomenas stressed the significance of developing cooperation between the Astana-based Association of TMTM and the Lithuanian Railways (LTG).

The parties also discussed the state and prospects for the development of cooperation between the two countries in the field of education and culture, including through the expansion of numbers of Kazakh students in Lithuania and the preservation of historical heritage sites.