Lithuanian Industrialists Seek Reinvigoration Of Economic Contacts With Russia

Lithuanian industrialists and businessmen are interested in active cooperation with Russia, vice-president of the Lithuanian Industrialists' Confederation Mikolas Aljaljunas told RIA Novosti in an interview on Friday. In the outgoing year a sizeable shift happened in cooperation with Russia: over ten months Lithuania's export increased by more than 80 percent in comparison with the corresponding period last year, said Aljaljunas. Such a growth rate never before existed in the economic relations between the two countries. Commodity exports to countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States increased by almost 42 percent. Relations between Lithuanian and Russian entrepreneurs are very good and they excellently understand each other, are seeking mutually advantageous cooperation, believes Mikolas Aljaljunas. He drew attention to the need of adopting interstate documents in this sphere, such as protection of investments and avoidance of double taxation. If such documents are adopted, cooperation between partners in the two countries will be elevated to a qualitatively new level, opportunities will be opened for reinvigorating contacts with the neighbouring Kaliningrad region (Russia's enclave on the Baltic), which is the main economic partner of Lithuania among regions of the Russian Federation, said Mikolas Aljaljunas.