Speaker of the Seimas: South Korea takes interest in Lithuania’s track record of innovation

Press release, 17 January 2017

Photos of the Office of the Seimas (author Olga Posaškova) 

On 16 January 2017, Viktoras Pranckietis, Speaker of the Seimas, met with Choi Sung-joo, Ambassador of South Korea. The meeting focused on bilateral relations and, in particular, opportunities for strengthening cooperation in the areas of education, science and innovation in order to attract Korean investment to Lithuania.

“Cooperation with South Korea offers a significant market for Lithuanian business and holds a promise of new high-tech jobs,” the Speaker of the Seimas said following the meeting with the Ambassador. In Pranckietis’ view, creating an innovation-based economy on the basis of high value-added activities ranked among Lithuania’s chief strategic objectives.

The South Korean Ambassador acknowledged his awareness of Lithuania’s achievements in the fields of bio- and information technology and promised to call on Korean entrepreneurs to expand their business in the European Union and to take into account the conditions for business offered in Lithuania, including its attractive investment environment, free economic zones and logistic opportunities that are particularly favourable for doing business.

With a rapid growth of bilateral trade volumes, South Korea is currently Lithuania’s second largest trading partner in Asia, with the turnover amounting to EUR 182.8 million in 2015, an increase of 76.5 % on 2014.

Out of a total of 128 countries, Lithuania scored 36th on the Global Innovation Index in 2016 and ranked among ten best-performing states on as many as seven parameters.

Dalia Vencevičienė, Senior Adviser to the Speaker of the Seimas, tel. +370 5 239 6016, mob. +370  698 42 071, e-mail: [email protected]