Viktoras Pranckietis, Speaker of the Seimas: Lithuania will support EU sanctions against North Korea

Press release, 4 September 2017

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

 

On Monday, 4 September 2017, Viktoras Pranckietis, Speaker of the Seimas, met with Hirofumi Nakasone, Member of the Japanese Parliament, Chairman of Japan-Lithuania Friendship Diet Members’ League.

 

The meeting discussed prospects of the development of bilateral cooperation, regional security issues and the threat posed by North Korea.

 

“It is important to stress that Lithuania and Japan belong to the same alliance of democratic states and mutually support each other in addressing security challenges. Lithuania urges North Korea to completely and irreversibly terminate the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programmes that pose a serious threat to international peace and security and breach the global non-proliferation and disarmament regime,” said Mr Pranckietis.

 

 

The EU sanctions against North Korea are among the strictest currently applicable sanctions. The Speaker of the Seimas noted that Lithuania would support further restrictive measures of the European Union, in close consultation with the key partners, within a framework defined by the UN Security Council.

 

“Lithuania particularly appreciates the Japanese leadership and its active contribution to the preservation of global peace, development of global economy, research and technology", said the parliamentary leader after the meeting.

 

The meeting largely focused on the development of bilateral relations between Lithuania and Japan. According to the Speaker of the Seimas, since 1993, Japan has been one of most important export markets of Lithuanian scientific lasers.  Lasers represented the only Lithuanian export production to Japan then. Japan was the starting point for Lithuanian laser industry towards international acknowledgement. Currently, Japan is one of the global leaders in the application of research results in production processes.

 

“Lithuania produces 80 per cent of global production of ultra-fast parametric light generators and half of the global picosecond lasers. Lasers made in Lithuania are widely used in scientific research, industry and medicine,” said Viktoras Pranckietis.

 

The meeting also discussed cooperation in the field of information and communication technologies and life sciences as well as the participation of Japanese scientists in the Life Science Baltics 2018.

 

The fast growth of start-up community helped attract USD 100 million in investment to Lithuania in recent years, including some of the main global trademarks such as NASDAQ, Uber, Wix Revel systems etc. Lithuania has some of the fastest and most accessible internet connections in Europe, and Lithuania’s population ranks 4th in the world for their IT skills,” said Mr Pranckietis.

 

This year, Hirofumi Nakasone has received the Lithuanian Diplomacy Star award for his contribution to the development of Lithuania–Japan relations in the fields of politics, economy and education; strengthening of the cooperation between the parliaments of both countries; promoting Lithuania in Japan; assistance in organising visits of high-level Japanese delegations to Lithuania; support in arranging the first visit in history of the President of the Upper House (National Diet of Japan) to Lithuania in 2014 and meetings with various Lithuanian delegations arriving to Japan.

 

This year we mark the 95th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Lithuania and Japan.

 

Japan actively supports Lithuania’s membership of the OECD.

 

 

Dalia Vencevičienė, Senior Adviser, Speaker of the Seimas, tel.+370 5239 6016, tel.+370 698 42 071, e-mail: [email protected]