Kroes ontmoet Litouwse minister-president (en)

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius met with Vice-President of the European Commission, European Commissioner for Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes i. Among the discussion items was preparation for the October European Council, prospects for the telecom single market, and innovations.

Prime Minister Butkevičius expressed his appreciation to Commissioner Kroes for her visit to Lithuania and said that close cooperation between the European Council and the European Commission helps achieving essential changes and common objectives, as well as implementation of required reforms, such as creation of the single telecom market in Europe. Lithuania is getting ready for the October European Council, which, among other items, will cover this particular subject.

According to the Commissioner, the single market is important to Europe’s competitiveness in terms of its potential positive impact on the public sector, consumers, and the entire economy.

The Lithuanian Prime Minister has also stressed the importance of the conference on innovations, to be held in Vilnius in November 2013. Commissioner Kroes has confirmed her participation in the conference as well. The conference is intended to cover the Horizon 2020.

“We give preference to legal activities as regards the implementation of Horizon 2020 initiatives. We seek to give more attention to public-private partnership, as far as large-scale, long-term innovation activities under Horizon 2020 are concerned. Europe seeks to facilitate innovations. We need to ensure that innovative ideas reach the market as successful products or services. This would encourage further EU competitiveness”, - said Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius.

Cooperation in research, development and innovations are among the priorities of the Lithuanian Presidency towards open Europe.