Lithuania to present plans to restrict the movement of goods through Russia at the Ukraine recovery conference
Minister of the Economy and Innovation, Aušrinė Armonaitė, will present Lithuania’s plans to prevent dual-use goods from passing through Belarus and Russia for export to other countries to international partners at the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC 2023) in London today.
“For some time now, we have seen a significant increase in the transit through Lithuania of certain dual-use goods produced in the European Union and shipped to Central Asian countries, which are likely to be used for weapons in the war against Ukraine. To prevent this, Lithuania is taking decisive action to restrict the transit through Lithuania of these goods, which could be used on the battlefield in Ukraine. I have no doubt that this bold step must also become part of the European Union’s policy,” said Minister of the Economy and Innovation, Ms Armonaitė.
The London conference will focus on mobilising international support for Ukraine’s economic and social stabilisation and recovery in the aftermath of the Russian-led war, without waiting for the war to end. The URC 2023 conference will be opened by Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, and President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ms Armonaitė will also represent Lithuania in a special session focusing on technology partnerships, e-governance excellence and private sector cooperation. The Minister will present Lithuanian-Ukrainian cooperation in the technology sector.
A meeting with Minister of the Great Britain, Nusrat Ghani, is also planned to discuss bilateral economic cooperation and recovery opportunities in Ukraine.
Last year, the Ministry of the Economy and Innovation also initiated the “Rebuild Ukraine” conference, during which participants discussed the steps and principles of Ukraine’s rebuilding process. In 2022, a conference on Ukraine’s rebuilding was also organised in Toronto.
For its part, the Government of the Republic of Lithuania has already allocated €11 million to rebuild Ukraine’s infrastructure and is implementing rebuilding projects. One of them has already been completed: a mobile settlement in Borodyanka for 36 families who lost their homes has been handed over to the Ukrainians. Lithuania is working to rebuild a school in Borodyanka damaged by explosions and is renovating a kindergarten in Irpin. The projects are expected to be completed this autumn.
Lithuania has also started upgrading the electricity distribution network in Mykolaiv to bring it closer to EU standards. The focus is also on digital transformation, which will be the basis for rebuilding a modern, innovative and resilient country.