Lithuanian president receives letters of credence from new Dutch ambassador

During their meeting, the president and the ambassador discussed security situation in the region and ways to strengthen it, economic cooperation between Lithuania and the Netherlands as well as common EU issues.

According to Grybauskaitė, the two countries are linked by close economic ties; therefore it is mutually beneficial to further deepen economic cooperation. The Netherlands ranks sixth in trade turnover and fourth in foreign investment in Lithuania.

The president said that Lithuania commended the priorities of the upcoming Netherlands Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2016. She underscored the importance of energy security and independence from gas imports.

Gijsbert Hendrik Christiaan van der Lingen started his career in 1984 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands where he held different positions. The diplomat was deputy head of the mission in Sofia and Dublin, worked at the European Integration Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Economic Department of the Embassy in Warsaw, and Western European Department. Before his appointment as ambassador to Lithuania, he was deputy head of the mission of the Netherlands in Budapest.