This is provided for in the Vilnius Declaration adopted after Friday’s meeting of agriculture ministers within the 16+1 framework.
“We agreed that cooperation between China and Central and Eastern Europe countries should continue and cover all levels,” Surplys said at a news conference.
“We have to think very actively about science and agriculture cooperation and about how to deliver our products to each other’s markets as quickly as possible,” he said.
Chinese Agriculture Minister Han Changfu called on Lithuanian businesses to advertise their products directly to the Chinese and thus promote exports to China.
Lithuania’s exports of agricultural and food products, mostly cheese and curd, frozen blueberries, concentrated milk and cream, and alcoholic beverages, to China last year grew by 46 percent to 8 million euros. China ranked 45th out of Lithuania’s 143 export partners.
The so-called 16+1 was established more than five years ago as China’s initiative to boost cooperation with 16 CEE countries, including Lithuania and another 10 EU member states.