Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė (left) shakes the hand of China’s Vice Prime Minister Huy Liang Yu this morning.

VILNIUS — Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė met with China’s Vice Prime Minister Huy Liang Yu this morning to to discuss increasing trade between the two countries. Earlier in the day Lithuania’s Ministry of Economy facilitated a meeting between Chinese and Lithuanian business representatives.

Currently Lithuania exports around €5 million each year to China, but this pales in comparison with the €500 million annually imported by Lithuania. Lithuania is looking for new export markets as demand in its primary European partners remains stagnant in the wake of the economic crisis. China’s growth has stayed steady throughout the global downturn, though, with nearly a seven percent GDP increase last quarter.

Mindaugas Reinikis of the Lithuania-China Trade Association told Baltic Reports that Lithuanians are very interested in doing business with the Chinese.

“We wanted to find new contacts to find new money because especially now, China is becoming more and more popular among investors and not only for producing things there. Lithuanian businessmen are very keen on finding the Chinese market both for producing goods and for exporting some goods made in Lithuania,” Reinikis said. “The biggest aim is that the [trade] numbers would become more equal — it is hard to predict, but it depends who comes here — if we would have Bank of China or logistics or telecommunication here, it could be really good.”

Wang Yafei, vice president of the Anhui Publishing Group, told Baltic Reports that he sees good cooperation in the electrical, chemical, engineering and construction sectors.

“I don’t know exactly [how much will be invested], but I think everything can be as you [Lithuanians] hope,” Wang said. “After a mutual understanding is reached, more Chinese people will come to this country and get the chance to get together and get more business.”

A to B

Reinikis predicted that transportation, one of Lithuania’s major industries given the country’s geographical location, is set to boom with the incorporation of Chinese companies.

“The second [goal of this meeting] is to have a contact that would relate Chinese and European business through Lithuania. We have a good potential being in between the east, west, south and north of Europe and understanding the mentality of post-Soviet countries and also of the Western countries,” he said.

The Lithuanian Development Agency has used Lithuania’s location as a selling point for foreign investment in transportation.

Tibet

A handful of protesters campaigning for freeing Tibet were parading on the street as the Chinese delegation walked by, but members of the meeting emphasized cooperation between the countries.

Recently Lithuanian parliamentarians voted not to recognize Tibet as an independent country in an effort not to anger China, despite the Dalai Lama being an honorary citizen of the Užupis Republic, Vilnius’ famous faux-nation created by its artistic community.

“This decision not to recognize Tibet was part of the pragmatism, by the ideas of having good conduct with China and remaining neutral. I wouldn’t want to evaluate whether it is a good decision or not for my personal feelings…this issue of course will remain harsh naturally,” Reinikis said.

Wang said the mutual understanding between the countries was the most important thing for business.

“I don’t think problems should be promoted – it is about mutual understanding – this is most important because these two countries should exchange more and teach each other,” Wang said.

The visit is part of a pan-Baltic tour by the Chinese team. Tomorrow Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu, who attended today’s meeting with Grybauskaitė, will meet with Latvian Minister of Economics Artis Kampars in Riga.