At the seminar for experts “Poland and Lithuania: Building Prosperity in the Baltic Sea Region” in Warsaw on July 5, Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Egidijus Meilūnas praised economic relations between both countries and growing bilateral trade, urm.lt reports.
“Joint Lithuanian-Polish energy projects are gathering momentum and cooperation in the field of transport will qualitatively enhance transport links between Lithuania, other Baltic Sea countries and Western and Southern Europe,” Meilūnas said at the opening of the event.
The seminar was co-organized by the Eastern Europe Studies Centre based in Vilnius and the Warsaw Centre for International Relations with an aim to discuss economic partnership between both countries and cooperation prospects in the spheres of transport and energy.
Volumes of Lithuania’s exports to Poland and imports from this country last year surpassed pre-crisis levels. In 2011, Poland was in the second biggest foreign direct investor into Lithuania and ranked fourth among the destinations of Lithuania’s direct investment abroad. The countries continue to implement joint energy projects, i.e., LitPollink, the Lithuanian-Polish power interconnection, is expected to be operational by 2015, also a gas interconnection between Poland and Lithuania will integrate the Baltic gas pipes into the EU gas pipeline system.
Not so long ago, Western Europe looked upon the former Soviet Bloc nations with the same kind of compassion as the more prosperous West Germans looked at their East Germany brethren.
As an observer of European affairs it seems to me that Eastern Europe is just getting on with things quietly; the results of which are positive and who knows; setting an example to Western European nations. These seem to have somehow lost the plot.