Mūsų svečiai

Dear Reader,

The year 2004 was a very significant year for Lithuania – our country joined the EU and NATO. The accession into these organizations has finally opened the opportunities for Lithuanian citizens and companies to enjoy the benefits of being a member of Trans-Atlantic community. In particular, membership in the Single market of the EU of 450 million consumers provides long term opportunities for the companies to export and invest. Many Lithuanian businesses are already taking advantage of it.
A quarterly magazine Made in Lithuania will provide you, business partners, with information about Lithuanian goods, services and recreation facilities. You will find useful information about successful companies and investment opportunities.

Congratulations with this first issue of ‘Made in Lithuania’.

Using the brand name ‘Made in Lithuania’ in the right way will make the achievements and possibilities of Lithuanian Industry better known.

From fifteen years I have been involved with Lithuania and Lithuanian Industry. I see one major obstacle limiting Lithuanian exports: Lithuania as an export country is barely known.

Lithuania has maintained a representation in the United Kingdom since 1919 and continued this representation and remained to be recognised by the UK government throughout that period, notwithstanding its occupation. Its current Gloucester Place Embassy premises are its fourth home in London.

It was a great honour for me, here in Sapporo, to be appointed the first Honorary Consul of the Republic of Lithuania in Japan. I will do my best to strengthen friendly relations between Japan and Lithuania.

The Republic of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Spain share an ancient common past – their traditional culture unites them as part of Christendom, as catholic and as brother nations. Indeed, these two nations are far away from one another, but one thing bonds them together – spirit.

Honorary ConsulIn 1995 I had been asked to be the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Lithuania in Malmö and it was with great pleasure that I accepted and on the 1st of October 1996, the Lithuanian Consulate was officially opened in an office building in the centre of Malmö.

Since the establishment of the Pro Baltica Forum (known as the Pro Baltica Forum nowadays) at the beginning of the nineties, my work and my sentiments have kept me in direct contact with the Republic of Lithuania – a republic, which regained its sovereignty almost at the same time. My long-term position as chairman of the Pro Baltica Forum offered me many occasions to support this young state in its steps toward the circle of the Nordic Governmental Union and toward international cooperation.

Since the Viking Age a 1000 years ago, the Danes have been fascinated by the Baltic Sea and the people who have been living on its shores. Trade and war have been two main activities of the Danes.

During these years the Danes fought all the countries around the Baltic Sea - but not once did they fight the Lithuanians. Several times during the years when Lithuania was an independent Kingdom and later when it joined the Polish-Lithuanian Union, Lithuania and Denmark formed several alliances against their common enemies - Germany, Sweden and Russia.

According to written history, there were no military hostilities between Lithuania and Denmark for a millennium. However, trade between the two nations never ceased.

In the Viking Age and in the early Middle Ages, Danish traders used to buy amber, furs and slaves in Lithuania. Amber came from Lithuanian beaches, animals were trapped in Lithuania’s enormous forests for their valuable furs and Lithuanian warlords sold their beaten competitors into Danish slavery.

Vitalij Antonov
Generalinis konsulas Ukrainoje

I have been appointed as Honorary Consul of the Republic of Lithuania to Lvov in 1999. Everything that happens in the social-political and economic life of Lithuania has always been of interest and importance to me. Since 2004, when Lithuania became a full-fledged member of the European community, I have observed the changes that Lithuania has gone through. Indeed I am very interested in the development of Lithuanian businesses. I want to emphasise that the political, social and economic transformation that Lithuania has experienced during these 16 years would be of great value to Ukraine in many areas. However, in order to develop this and other issues we have to establish better communication channels between our countries’ leaders.

The Honorary Consulate of Lithuania in Stavanger was opened in the autumn of 2006. I consider it an honour, as Head of this Consulate, to present briefly the region of Stavanger in the magazine Made in Lithuania and to invite business representatives from both countries to take advantage of the existing possibilities and expand bilateral co-operation.

One of the main tasks of the Honorary Consul who resides in France is the development of economic and trade relations between France and Lithuania. Due to the rapid economic growth of the country, modernisation of its economy and the clear economic policy pursued by its government, Lithuania has already become a full-fledged participant in the European market.