Zubair Qureshi
Pakistan and Lithuania have over 30 years of bilateral relations but trade cooperation between the two countries is modest and not at a level where it should be and the country’s multinational companies are keen to invest in this huge market of over 230 million people provided they have an enabling environment.
These views were expressed by Ambassador-designate of the Republic of Lithuania, Ricardas Degutis during an interview on Tuesday at the residence of Honorary Consul General of Lithuania Masud Khan. Deputy Head of Mission Vaida Stankeviciene was also present in the interview.
Amb Ricardas Degutis is scheduled to present his credentials to President Dr Arif Alvi today (Wednesday). In the exclusive interview with Pakistan Observer, he said his country though a small state with 2.8 million population was a member of the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Lithuania is a Baltic state that takes pride in its one thousand years old history, its rich culture, heritage and inclusive society, he said.
Our universities are open to the foreign students with highly advanced education opportunities and state of the art facilities being offered to the students, the ambassador-designate said.
He particularly mentioned the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, a medical school in Kaunas (the second biggest city of Lithuania after the capital city Vilnius) and technical universities in Vilnius that are considered world’s top-rated universities. “Our universities are waiting for the Pakistani students who are believed to be among the most talented youth in the world,” he said.
Ambassador Ricardas Degutis who is a non-residential ambassador for Pakistan and is currently serving in Turkiye as his country’s ambassador hoped Pakistan would soon come over the current economic uncertainty. Our companies are well-known in Europe in diverse areas like oil refinery, fertilizers, laser technology, Information Technology, etc and they are keen to invest in Pakistan.
Lithuania has all the components that make a country peaceful, progressive and prosperous and we want to share our experience and expertise with Pakistan, said the ambassador-designate.
In Ankara where I am based we are more or less business-oriented and the same vision I have for Pakistan, he said adding during his two-day engagements he held meetings with the government officials, local people, representatives of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) and looked forward to have interaction with Karachi and Rawalpindi chambers. “I like Pakistan’s weather,” said the ambassador who had arrived only a day earlier and added he looked forward to seeing more Pakistani friends in the coming days,” concluded the ambassador.
