Lithuania and Israel open unique ways to collaborate in business, science and IT
During her official visit to Israel, President Dalia Grybauskaitė opened the Global Lithuanian Economic Forum in Tel Aviv. The Forum, which brings together prominent business and political leaders across a range of different fields, is held for the first time in Israel. The Global Lithuanian Economic Forum has gathered more than 100 Lithuanian and Israeli business and political representatives as well as top managers of Israel’s largest business companies, informed BC presidential press service.
It introduces Lithuania’s economic and business environment as well as investment opportunities with a focus on innovative e-government, mobile telecommunication solutions, medical tourism, start-ups, and open-access research centers.
“We all together – the delegation of public officials and business people – help the Israeli business community and scientists to discover Lithuania, a country of modern innovative ideas, opportunities and smart people. Our competitiveness is growing and our economy is one of the fastest growing economies in the European Union. Therefore, there is no better time than now to take the advantages offered by the Lithuania-Israel relationship and find unique ways to collaborate in business, science, education, IT, and innovations,” the President said.
Israel is a global leader in terms of innovations and high technologies with well-developed scientific and business ties. Lithuanian and Israeli scientists are already working together to implement more than 60 research projects, but, according to the President, this cooperation could be stepped up.
Lithuania is one of the most educated countries in the EU while Israel is among world countries with the largest amounts of funding allocated to science and research and a leader in information technologies. Therefore, the exploitation of our strengths can make both countries a unique and competitive force in the whole of the region,” the president said.
Lithuania could also collaborate with Israel in renewable energy sources. The President pointed out that Lithuania was globally recognized as a producer and exporter of high-efficiency solar modules, while Israel sought to expand the use of renewables. This is yet another niche with great untapped potential, the president said.
Dalia Grybauskaitė underlined that Lithuania wanted to strengthen economic ties with Israel, a country well known for its advanced economy that attracts twice as many venture capital investments as the United States and is a world leader in terms of start-ups – each year more than 1000 new businesses are set up here. According to the President, the chemical industry, biotechnological, medical, agricultural, and life sciences also open up new opportunities for cooperation.
The Global Lithuanian Economic Forum is held for the seventh time. The event, which is under the patronage of the President and which brings together outstanding business, scientific and political leaders, was also held in Chicago, London and Vilnius.
In Israel, President Dalia Grybauskaite will also meet with top managers of Israel’s largest business companies.
