India’s growing market offers great opportunities to Lithuania, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said on Monday, as he sought a strong technology partnership with the country in areas like the agro-food processing sector. Naidu arrived here on Saturday on the first leg of his five-day three-nation tour that will also take him to Latvia and Estonia. This is the first ever high-level visit from India to the three Baltic countries. Addressing the India-Lithuania business forum, Naidu highlighted the complementarities in the economies of the two countries. “Lithuania has been an important partner for India in Europe as both countries share the common values of democracy, freedom and rule of law,” Naidu said. “Both our countries are marching together on the road to successfully creating a free, transparent and robust business environment,” he said. Naidu said he was delighted to address the prestigious Business Forum aimed at furthering economic cooperation between India and Lithuania. “This forum is a signature of trust that Lithuania places in our business co-operation. I am happy that companies from India are participating in this forum,” he said. “India’s growing market offers great opportunities to Lithuanian business. India has a rising middle class market and 60 per cent of our population comprises of skilled youth under 35 yrs of age. It is the 6th largest economy in the world, set to attain a size of USD 5 trillion by 2024-25,” Naidu said. He said India has been successfully reforming and transforming it’s business environment to attract investments at a huge scale. India presents a model of successful cooperative federalism, wherein huge states are equal partners in fostering growth and development, he said. “India-Lithuania bilateral trade has huge potential for growth. We must double our efforts and explore more and more areas of cooperation and engagement between India and Lithuania,” he said. “Our economies have many complementarities which can be leveraged for mutually beneficial cooperation. I also visualise Lithuania as a strong technology partner for India in various areas of opportunity such as agro-food processing, since Lithuania has strengths in dairy and cheese production. Such technologies would be appreciated in India’s mega food parks,” he said. “The opportunities for our economic and commercial cooperation between India and Lithuania are therefore numerous. I invite the leaders of Lithuanian industry to visit India and take personal note of the immense advantages of the Indian market, ” he said. Naidu earlier paid homage to the fallen heroes of the Lithuanian struggle for independence at the cemetery in Vilnius.
