President of the Republic of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus attended the Swedish Business Awards 2009 Ceremony.

Having noted that this year the Swedish Business Awards focused on global changes in the business climate and on global climate change, the President underlined that Lithuania and Sweden were closely connected to the global economy and were directly affected by its changes.

According to the President, economic development is strongly dependent on energy prices and energy supplies, which in their turn have a significant impact on what is happening in the environment and its trends.

"We all agree that depleting traditional energy resources, our growing addiction to oil and gas, dependency on a single or unpredictable source of imports, fluctuating energy prices, climate change - all of these have a significant impact not only on every country and every individual, but also on business. If not addressed properly, these challenges threaten our internal politics, well-being and security, and undermine international stability. It is evident that regional challenges demand a collective and coordinated regional response, while global challenges need global solutions," the President said.

The Head of State underlined that one of the options that could help sort out the issue of energy isolation was a further development of nuclear power. Therefore, according to the President, a joint project of Lithuania and Sweden or - to be more precise - an electricity bridge project launched together by the Baltic States and Scandinavian countries is very important. This electricity bridge will connect the two countries and create a common power market in the region.

The President expressed strong belief that attention and investments need to be focused on research to reduce the costs of alternative energy sources, on infrastructure projects to integrate better our markets and make prices more competitive, and on new financial instruments to improve energy saving and the quality of life.

President Adamkus also said he believed that the business community, who had always been flexible in their approach to new economic realities and challenges, would be the driving force behind success and competition in local and foreign markets.

The Swedish Business Awards were launched by the Swedish Embassy in Lithuania, the Swedish Trade Council, Swedbank, and TeliaSonera in 2006, to bring together people with enterprising skills who promote advanced technologies, apply innovative business models and contribute significantly to strengthening the two economies. (Full text of the Address by President Adamkus at the Swedish Business Awards Ceremony is available on the President's website at www. prezidentas.lt)