Italy’s Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Maria Tripodi, met via videoconference with Jovita Neliupšienė, the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, and Rolandas Krisčiūnas, the First Deputy Chancellor of the Government of Lithuania. The meeting was an opportunity to take stock of the excellent bilateral cooperation between the two countries and the common will to strengthen their economic partnership, particularly in the energy and infrastructure sectors.
Lithuania is an important economic and trade partner in the Baltic region for Italy. The Undersecretary spoke of the positive performance of bilateral trade, which reached almost EUR 2.4 billion in 2022. She then underlined how the Italian economic community is deeply rooted in Lithuania, and hoped that cooperation could be strengthened also in the field of defence.
Tripodi finally mentioned Italy’s request to support Rome’s candidature to host the World Expo 2030. The Undersecretary hoped that Lithuania would vote for Rome on 28 November, given their common belonging to the European family and NATO, emphasising how this project could represent a window of opportunity to create long-term partnerships.
As a testimony to the friendship that binds Italy and Lithuania and the increasing importance of their economic relations, Undersecretary Tripodi then opened the fifth edition of the Italian-Lithuanian Business Forum “Towards Green Mobility” with a video message. The initiative, jointly organised by the Italian Embassy in Vilnius, the Italian-Lithuanian Chamber of Commerce and the Italian Trade Agency, with the support of Innovation Agency Lithuania, LINPRA and TIA, aims to create positive connections and business opportunities in a growing sector for Italian and Lithuanian companies. In her speech, the Undersecretary emphasised that sustainable mobility, one of the pillars of the Next Generation EU project, represents a challenge for the future that can only be effectively addressed through cooperation and the sharing of ideas, best practices, and projects.
