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“Lithuania: a Hub in a Centre of Europe”

Excellencies,
Professors, students,

Dear Friends,

My intention of today is to tell you what Lithuania is and how we see our relations with India.

There are many epithets I can use to describe Lithuania: perhaps the most adequate can be the following – Lithuania is – very strategically located and having rich heritage of history and regional interactions.

Do you know that French National Geographic Institute in 1989 determined that geographical centre of continental Europe is in Lithuania, near our capital Vilnius? This speaks well for our strategic position in Europe – on the crossroads of east and west, north and south. Even though we place ourselves firmly in the European family of countries and cultures, we have unique experience of places to the east and south from us: Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. There are many historical reasons to this – glorious but also tragic past.

Lithuania has just celebrated one thousand years of the official mentioning of its name in the historical chronicles. This date symbolizes our nation’s status - rising to the European political scene and the development of our statehood.   

Perhaps not all of you know that Lithuania was once the largest state in Europe. By the end of the 14th century Lithuania occupied vast territories of nowadays Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. The centre of a huge Grand Duchy of Lithuania was always present Lithuania. What is also the fact that in the 15th century Grand Dutchy was sharing borders at the Black Sea with the Timuride Empire that ruled over Northern India – we were literally neigbours.

Which leads me to the second description of Lithuania - diverse and tolerant. Even now Ukrainians jokingly call us their best occupying power. Grand Dutchy of Lithuania was a state of many nations, languages and cultures which freely flourished all over the huge area.

Then for two hundred years Lithuania was in Commonwealth with Poland – again a multilingual multicultural state, which was eventually divided by the great European powers and fell under Russian empire in the end of the 18th century.

In 1918 after WW I we regained our statehood but in 1939 and in 1940 again Lithuania was occupied by the Soviets, then, in 1941 by the Nazis, and again in 1945 – by the Soviets. Lithuania – a country of 3 million – lost 1/3 of its population because of these occupations.

Even being under the Soviet occupation Lithuanians managed to resist and fight for their freedom. Lithuania regained its independence in 1990 after 50 years of occupation. In 1991 we established (or in a number of cases reestablished) diplomatic relations with the major part of the world. We are very glad that this year we are marking the 20th anniversary of recognition by India of our independence.

One thing I specifically want to stress – is the popularity and application of the Gandhian path on our way towards freedom – our fight for independence was eventually called Singing Revolution. Instead of taking to guns, people would gather in important places and sing to show their unity and resolution.

Indian culture and philosophy has been popular in Lithuania since as early as 19th century which is the time of our national revival. Many of our great people got inspiration from the Vedas and the great teachers of India – Gandhi, Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore. In fact we too contributed to the spreading of Gandhism in some way. Hermann Kallenbach, one of the closest associates and supporters of Mahatma in South Africa, so called Gandhi‘s White Brother, was a Jew from Lithuania. So was Gandhi‘s personal Secretary Ms. Sonia Schlesin. Lithuania‘s intellectual elites were very sympathetic towards India‘s struggle for independence.

We do share some deep cultural affinities with India. It is a worldwide known fact for the linguists that Lithuanian language retained many ancient Indo–European forms and is the most similar language to the Sanskrit, the old language of India. Scientists of historical-comparative linguistics of Indo-European languages confirmed that Lithuanian retained archaic sounds, morphology, shifting stress. Therefore prominent linguists visit Lithuania in order to learn our language and Vilnius has become the world centre for the Baltic studies. We do have rivers in Lithuania with very Indian sounding names like – Siesartis, Indraja...

Many students have started learning Hindi and Sanskrit in Lithuania. But Lithuania also offers the scholarships to Indian scholars to learn Lithuanian. I hope next year we will have first applicants from India. And I very much hope that Lithuanian language will find its way to Indian universities.

Some words about economy and business. We maybe small in a direct sense of this word, but we have a lot to offer to India:

Do you know that back in 2007 more than half of India‘s ATM‘s were secured by the Lithuanian software?

Do you know that Lithuanian IT experts employed by the US are involved in the important Indian Project of Adhar – Unique Identification Number?

These are just a couple of examples of our potential

Lithuania is not rich in natural recourses; therefore the engine of our economy is people. We have one of the most educated populations in EU: 40 percent of Lithuanians have university level education, 90 percent are able to speak at least one foreign language. 40 percent of Lithuanian researchers are concentrated in science and technology, majority of them are below 45 years old. Lithuania has a “talent pool” of 18 thousands scientists in various research and development fields. 

We have ambition and political will: within the next 20 years to become one of the most innovative countries in a broad Nordic-Baltic region. It is expected that the production of IT, laser technologies, biotechnologies, nanotechnologies will constitute 25 % of Lithuania‘s GDP and 80 % of national export.

The quality of education is open to everyone: Lithuania is already becoming a destination for Indian students and we want to encourage this trend - our Universities are well known and recognized throughout European Union and the world. Here in Delhi I am accompanied by business delegation from Lithuania and in this delegation we have representatives of 2 Universities – Technological university and International School of Law and business.

Also I would like to point out that we have world’s leading Information and communications technologies infrastructure:

• Lithuania has world’s 2nd speediest upload Internet,
• Europe‘s No. 1 in fiber broadband penetration;
• the world’s No. 1 in the number of mobile telephone subscribers per 100 persons;
• Lithuania was the first country in the whole EU as well as one of the first in the world to launch the 4G Mobile Internet back in 2009.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In 20 years of independence we have implemented two major goals of our foreign policy – joined EU and NATO. For us this is not something artificial, but flows naturally out of our essence – we are Europeans and we need security based on our historical experience.

In 2013 Lithuania will take over the presidency of the European Union. We already started preparations for this outstanding and challenging period. It will be our first presidency of the EU since we became a member of the organization in 2004.  From the very beginning of our EU membership we took an active part in the EU common foreign and security policy. Our priorities during this presidency include:

-Energy security: completing the European internal energy market by ensuring necessary infrastructure and synchronization; strengthening of external EU energy policy

Apart of from traditional and natural areas of interest-we wish to expand and deepen our cooperation with the more distant regions- Asia, Latin America and Africa.

I know that there is some sort of scepsis in India about the future of Europe, especially in the current economic downturn. But we are still very Euro-optimistic. Let me just mention how great this idea of united Europe is and how it has already succeeded. Can you imagine that France and Germany were biggest enemies some 60 years ago? That the Polish army was occupying our capital Vilnius until 1939? And now you can drive non stop from Finland to Spain without showing your passport. It is an incredible achievement – an area of peace and free movement.

A few words on our neighbors in the region, outside the EU.

Let me start by Russia, the biggest one. Russia, is entering a crucial phase of its domestic political development – Parliamentary elections on 4 December 2011, Presidential Elections in March 2012. We hope that Russia would pass a test of democracy.

As for EU – Russia relations, we see the negotiations on the EU-Russia New Agreement (post -PCA) as a key feature in modernizing architecture of the EU – Russia relationship as well as making EU-Russia relations predictable and transparent.

Lithuania maintains balanced and pragmatic bilateral relations with Russia. Russian Federation in one of the major economic partners of Lithuania. At the same time Russia has concentrated its interests in Lithuania mostly to economic fields, especially in transport, gas market, oil, and electricity. Therefore, besides maintaining strong links with Russia, we also strive for as much transparency in these fields as possible. While engaging Russia we are  acting  on  the basis of reciprocity and mutuality. Engagement is real only if it is reciprocated.

Another neighbour of ours - Belarus is important and at the same time often challenging country. Forged presidential elections of 2010 and persecution of political opponents is totally unacceptable today. For the time being the EU maintains two-track approach with regards to Belarus. We show our openness to ordinary Belarusian people while applying well targeted sanctions vis-à-vis those responsible for serious abuses of human rights and fundamental democratic principles. Our interest is clear: free and democratic Belarus.

It is important to note, that what happens in the countries of the so called Eastern Partnership (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) affects the European Union and Lithuania. Successive EU enlargements have brought these countries closer to the EU,  and their security, stability and prosperity increasingly impact  the European Union. Eastern Partnership will be one of the priorities of the Lithuania’s EU Presidency as well.

One of the significant shifts that occurred in Lithuania after joining the EU in 2004 was the fact that from the recipient country it became a donor country. Now within the limits of our possibilities we are  implementing  development cooperation projects in  several countries. One of the priority countries  for our development cooperation is Afghanistan, and specifically its Ghor province where Lithuania is leading a Provincial Reconstruction Team.

 In order to be effective in Afghanistan, we are focusing on a few priority areas like good governance and rule of law, education, rural development and healthcare.

Recently was signed the Strategic Partnership agreement between India and Afghanistan. We are sure, that the role of India will be growing only more in safeguarding the stability and development of Afghanistan now and especially   after 2014.

OSCE

Lithuania is an active and engaged player in the world arena . We are now charring the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. With 56 States from Europe, Central Asia and North America, the OSCE is perhaps the world's largest regional security organization from Vancouver to Vladivostok. The 2010 OSCE Summit in Astana set the goal of working towards creation of a Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian Security Community. The Lithuanian Chairmanship has achieved a very good progress in implementing this objective. Mongolia‘s application for the OSCE membership is a testimony to that.

During our Chairmanship we focus on transnational threats stemming from Afghanistan. In particular drug trafficking and border control. The OSCE expressed interest in continuing and strengthening engagement with Afghanistan and  OSCE will discuss it in Vilnius at the Ministerial conference this December.

ASEM

Lithuania like India are parties to the  ASEM, which is a unique bridge between Europe and Asia. In 2009 Lithuania has initiated transport dialogue in ASEM and hosted the 1st Asia-Europe Ministerial Meeting on Cooperation in Transport. Lithuania was also co-sponsoring the 2nd ASEM Transport Ministers Meeting, which was held in China in October of this year. Both events were very successful. Transport cooperation, land routes from Asia to Europe is our niche in such a diverse multilateral structure as  ASEM.

UN

We are pleased to see our two countries’ close cooperation in the multilateral fora, such as United nations. Lithuania has actively participated in the deliberations regarding the  UN Security Council reform. The reform of the Security Council is needed. The world has changed since the creation of SC after the WW II. Security Council should become and effective body which leads to quality decisions. We support India’s aspirations to become a permanent member of this prestigious body. Another important aspect of the reform for us is to ensure that Eastern European States get an additional non-permanent member seat on the reformed and enlarged Security Council. It is also essential that any arrangements should not deteriorate but rather improve the effectiveness of the Council and the balance of representation of its members. In seeking this fairly balanced regional representation, no group should be ignored or left unheard.

EU/INDIA

EU – India strategic partnership transcends bilateral framework and takes on a global dimension. Catherine Ashton, High representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security policy stated that “India is one of the most significant global powers in the 21st Century. It is the biggest democracy in the world, an economic and cultural heavyweight whose power can only increase” .

 We are for more active  cooperation on global challenges: especially in practical anti-terrorist, anti-piracy activities, climate change, energy security, non-proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and regional issues.

Ashok Kapur “India – From Regional to World Power” wrote in his book that  EU has an important role to play in India’s realistic approach to achieving security. It is  characterized by efforts aimed at “managing asymmetries, not eliminating them, and managing the multi-cornered strategic context to India’s advantage”.

EU and India are natural partners – as we share similar social and political commitments and  similar long-term objectives.  And EU is much more, than just 27 countries joint together. It is a community of  nations, united by values were every member has a say. We, Lithuanians are  proud to be part of  this union.

Dear Friends,

Notwithstanding the impressive distance between our countries and cultural differences  we have a lot in common. We share the same values, based on freedom and democracy.  And these values are the best basis for building on and strengthening of our relations- relations between Lithuania and India. We must remember, that only by learning more about each other, and concentrating our efforts on spheres that unite us – we are bringing  people together, and in doing that – we are building bridges between our nations.

Let’s do it together.

Thank You.