Education and Science, EU – Baltic States, Investments, Legislation, Lithuania, Technology

Dalia Grybauskaite and Simonetta Sommaruga. Bern, 8.10.2015. Photo: lrp.lt

“Switzerland ranks first in the world on the Competitiveness Index while Lithuania has moved up to the 36th position this year. The Swiss approach to the quality of business, science and life is slowly being taken up in Lithuania. Close and strong cooperation between the Lithuanian and Swiss scientific, medical and business communities helps create competitive hi-tech businesses, services and products as well as modern jobs for our people,” the President said.

Over the past three years, Swiss investments in Lithuania have doubled and amounted to 490.2 million euros last year. Swiss businesses invest in engineering and furniture manufacturing, financial and insurance services. According to the President, there is still a great deal of untapped potential for cooperation in IT, innovation and life sciences.

Switzerland also provides significant financial assistance to Lithuania to improve caring for expectant mothers and newborns, for research and to equip reading rooms. It offers opportunities for Lithuanian scientists to undertake internship and to work in Switzerland. For 11 years now, physicists and IT experts from Vilnius University and Kaunas University of Technology have been participating in experiments at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) where the world’s largest and most complex scientific instruments are used.

The Swiss Baltic Chamber of Commerce operating in Vilnius for 10 years and the Swiss-Lithuanian Chamber of Commerce in Zug, Switzerland, pave the way for new connections and strengthen business ties between the two nations.

The Presidents also discussed the changed geopolitical security situation in Europe and in the world, the importance of a unified response to emerging threats and the strengthening of defense capacities.

In response to events in Ukraine, Switzerland – although not an EU member state – supports and applies sanctions to natural and legal persons as well as to several Russian banks and prohibits the export of military equipment and oil extraction technologies to Russia.

Switzerland – just like Lithuania – places a strong emphasis on strengthening national security and defense. Currently, Switzerland spends 7 percent of the annual budget for defense, its armed forces number 137 thousand conscripts and it invests in modernizing military equipment.

The Presidents also exchanged views on the necessity to strengthen Schengen borders and on measures to manage the chaotic flow of refugees. Both countries are ready to receive war refugees and speed up integration procedures; however, they highlight the need to strengthen the protection of EU external borders and fight the causes of illegal migration.

Last year Switzerland – which is also a member of the Schengen area – voted in a referendum in favor of limiting migration and introducing immigration quotas. It is very important, President Dalia Grybauskaite said, that Switzerland and the EU reach an agreement on the free movement of persons – a value that needs to be preserved.

The two heads of state also discussed ways to protect women and children in conflict zones as well as how to involve as many women as possible in conflict resolution. The Swiss President is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders currently chaired by Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite.