Andrius Kubilius

Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius has met with Prime Minister of Sweden Fredrik Reinfeldt in Stockholm yesterday. The Prime Ministers of the neighbourly states have discussed energy projects of Lithuania and the Baltic States, the situation in the financial markets of Lithuania, Sweden, Europe, and the world, as well as the forthcoming Swedish EU Presidency, to be assumed in July 2009.

Prime Minister Reinfeldt has agreed with the plans to interconnect the Swedish and the Baltic electricity markets if the Baltic States follow a model of the Nord Pool and establish a single, transparent, and open system for electric power trading on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. Prime Minister Kubilius marked that the plan to integrate the Baltic electric power economy following the model of the Nordic States could be called the enlargement of the Nord Pool.

“The Nordic States have showed Europe and the entire world that the transparent and open system for the cross-border trading in electric power is beneficial both for the electricity producers and its consumers, and it is a good example proving that united efforts help reach successful solutions to complicated problems”, Kubilius said at the joint press conference. The Swedish Prime Minister welcomed the EU’s support to this project and expressed hope that it would receive endorsement in Brussels in the short run.

The Swedish Prime Minister has also confirmed that the Swedish Government is greatly interested in the stability of the Lithuanian and the Baltic economies and is going to further encourage long-term investment by Swedish banks to Lithuania’s economy.

In their meeting the two counterparts have also thoroughly discussed the forthcoming Swedish EU Presidency. Kubilius has expressed every support to Sweden’s plans to create a Strategy for the Baltic Sea States and to develop the Eastern Partnership Programme as well as pursue further EU enlargement.

At the end of their meeting, the Lithuanian and the Swedish Prime Ministers have briefly shared common experience of leading a four-party Government. Kubilius has invited his Swedish counterpart to arrive on a visit to Lithuania in June.