Prime Minister has received the new Ambassador of Greece to Lithuania

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius has met with in-coming Ambassador of Greece to the Republic of Lithuania Iraklis Asteriadis. During the meeting, the Head of Government has stressed the importance of strengthening economic relations, discussed prospects for direct flights Vilnius-Athens, and highlighted the need for the two countries to implement the European Union measures in the field of migration.  

“Your Excellency Ambassador, I welcome your appointment in Lithuania. I trust that during the term of your office, relations between our countries will continue to intensify, and our united positions will enable us to achieve our shared objectives in the international formats”, said Prime Minister Butkevičius.   

The Head of Government has expressed his delight about economic relations between the two countries, which have markedly intensified recently, following a passive period. “Over the recent years, Lithuania-Greece trade turnover has come up by 39 per cent, thus witnessing the growing interest from the businesses of the two countries”, said the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister noted the importance of opening the direct flight between Vilnius and Athens. “We hope to be able launching the direct flight as early as this summer, which is expected to encourage inbound and outbound tourism in both countries and provide more possibilities of business development”, said the Head of Government.

The Prime Minister and the Ambassador also spoke of the need to implement measures adopted by the EU on migration and address the causes of this phenomenon. They noted the growing need for better protection of EU’s external borders and the preservation of the Schengen area.