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The leadership of the Confederation of Lithuanian Industrialists (LPK) and members of the Lithuanian-Ukrainian Business Council met with the delegation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in Vilnius (Lithuania). President of the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Anatolii Kinakh took part in the event online.
He thanked Lithuanian partners for consistent support of Ukraine. Thanks to the many years of work of the bilateral business council cooperation between the ULIE and LPK trade between the countries has been growing steadily, amounting to $ 2 billion in 2021. In January-February this year, the increase was 48%. It is clear that the war unleashed by Russia has somewhat suspended this process but both Ukraine and Lithuania are ready not only to resume previous projects but also to launch new ones. These include improving the logistics of Ukrainian exports, digital construction, implementation of EU standards and regulations in production.
These priorities were identified and confirmed by the parties during a visiting meeting of the Economic Committee of the Seimas of Lithuania held at the ULIE headquarters in Kyiv in July this year.
In addition, a meeting of the Ukrainian-Lithuanian Business Council (online) was held in spring 2022. The main issue on the agenda of the event was strengthening business cooperation in the context of Russian military aggression. It was about the so-called "digital construction", in which detailed projects of new buildings (schools, residential buildings, etc.) are developed using interactive systems and then quickly implemented. The meeting resulted in the Declaration which was sent to the President of Ukraine, the Government, and the Parliament.
Since the end of February, the Confederation of Lithuanian Industrialists, the bilateral business council, other Lithuanian partners have prepared and sent to Ukraine tons of humanitarian aid, food, medicines for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, etc.
Also, business circles have jointly lobbied for tax exemption for Ukrainian private entrepreneurs who temporarily relocated to Lithuania.
Ukrainian business is offered expanded access to participation in grant projects, competitions, etc. funded by the European Union.
Anatolii Kinakh also noted the experience of cooperation between Ukraine and Lithuania in the reconstruction of educational institutions. On September 1, 2021, school №2 was opened in Avdiivka, the modernization of which became possible thanks to the Ukrainian-Lithuanian project. The ULIE acted as its administrator. Unfortunately, now the city is in the frontline zone, it has been repeatedly shelled by the occupiers.
"The positive thing is that this pilot project has given us invaluable experience of cooperation which will be useful in the process of rebuilding Ukraine, in particular its educational infrastructure in the consequences of the war," the ULIE President emphasized.
The participants of the meeting also discussed mechanisms for facilitating the work of Lithuanian business in Ukraine, creating new jobs, organizing joint exports of finished products to the third markets, etc.