President of the Republic of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus received letters of credence from the Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan Mr. Galymzhan Koishybayev.
   
The President congratulated the new Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Lithuania and expressed hope his appointment as the ambassador would promote yet stronger relations between the two countries and expand their partnership that was increasingly turning into special cooperation on most important issues.

Accepting letters of credence from Ambassador Koishybayev, President Adamkus underlined the last year was a year of special importance to the bilateral relations between Lithuania and Kazakhstan. “This was the year when Lithuania's Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister made an official visit in Your country, the Trade and Economic Cooperation Commission had a meeting in Lithuania, and we were successfully continuing preparations for OECD presidency in 2010-2011,” the President said.

“Today our relations are built on a solid foundation, and Kazakhstan is the most important partner of Lithuania in the Central Asian region. Now it is important that we make another step towards making these relations bring our people and regions closer together. I hope You as the holder of this important and responsible position of an ambassador will seek that Lithuanian-Kazakhstani relations bring yet more visible benefits to our people: entrepreneurs, investors, artists, scientists or students,” President Adamkus said.

According to the President, Kazakhstan is a very important trade partner of Lithuania. “I believe we can exploit better both the economic potential of our countries and the existing transport networks,” the President said and stressed that the close cooperation between Lithuanian and Kazakhstani businesspeople and the search for new business and investment opportunities could help the two economies and people prosper in the face of the global financial crisis.

“Lithuania is strongly committed to developing friendly mutual relations between our two states and I would therefore be very happy to see His Excellency President of Kazakhstan in Vilnius this coming spring. I would highly appreciate the opportunity to share His views about the development of our economies, to discuss emerging energy challenges and to present any new ideas of cooperation and investment. We still have many unused opportunities for developing projects in the Klaipėda Seaport, also for logistic projects in Kaunas and Vilnius,” President Adamkus said.

The Head of State also expressed hope Lithuania and Kazakhstan would find ways to develop not only their bilateral direct cooperation but also find mutually-beneficial ways of cooperation in helping Afghanistan.
   
During the credentials ceremony, President Adamkus wished the Ambassador every success in discharging his important mission.