18 February
Speaker of the Seimas Arūnas Valinskas received Ambassador of the Republic of Portugal Joao Silva Leitao.
The Head of the Parliament positively commented on the Group for Interparliamentary Relations with Portugal, which had been formed in the Seimas of the new legislative period, and expressed a hope that willingness to cooperate and develop bilateral relations would provide the impetus for the economic cooperation between Lithuania and Portugal, which had been minimum so far.
We would like to thank Portugal for a special export good Portuguese Jose Couceiro, a chief coach of the Lithuanian National Football Team, which has been demonstrating superb results lately. I consider that from the common points of contact in sports and culture we may pass on to more active cooperation in other fields, said the Seimas Speaker.
Mr. Valinskas thanked for the initiative and support of Portugal when Lithuania joined the Schengen Area, and the contribution to the air-policing mission. The Head of the Parliament stressed that Lithuania expected Portugal to decide to send its air police patrols to Lithuania once again by the end of 2011.
According to the Speaker of the Seimas, in terms of economic cooperation Lithuania could offer a well-developed infrastructure and partnership to Portuguese entrepreneurs if Portuguese companies showed interest in Russian, Belarusian, or Ukrainian markets.
Indrė Viržintė, Spokesperson of the Seimas Speaker
