The visit will be German Chancellor Angela Merkel's first trip to Lithuania since Grybauskaitė took office.

VILNIUS — President Dalia Grybauskaitė will meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel next week to discuss bilateral relations in the fields of transport and energy.

It will be Merkel’s first trip to Lithuania since Grybauskaitė took office, as Grybauskaitė’s upcoming schedule features numerous meetings with Western allies as opposed to Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, where she has tried to warm relations.

Chancellor Merkel will come to Vilnius along with the heads of state of the Baltic Sea region countries, who are attending the Baltic Development Forum next week.

Transport of equipment via Lithuania to Afghanistan will likely be discussed along with the effects of the financial crisis on the two countries.

“Germany is the largest and one of the most important countries in the European Union, a country which Lithuania pays special attention to in our cooperation. The chancellor, Angela Merkel, and I are going to discuss concrete steps that Europe must take to ensure that the EU’s economic growth and prevent potential crises in the future,” President Dalia Grybauskaitė said via her press service.

“Recession is a serious challenge for the European Union economy and financial system, but there is also the possibility of structural reforms of the common economic policy,” the president said.