EU – Baltic States, Legislation, Lithuania, Markets and Companies

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"I think the importance of the Baltic-Nordic relationship to Ireland in new circumstances in which we find ourselves will be ever more important," Higgins said, addressing the Irish community in Vilnius.

Ireland's diplomatic rapprochement has been felt for some time already as the Irish prime minister and his Dutch counterpart joined last year for the first time the traditional meeting of the leaders of the six Baltic and Nordic countries to coordinate their positions ahead of a European Council meeting.

Lithuanian officials believe such meetings will be repeated as the countries' positions on many issues match since they want to keep the EU's close ties with Britain, are in favor of free trade and also seek increased EU agricultural funding.

"Naturally, there are many more of those links than we had before. Can it evolve into a new format, time will show. Now interests themselves should lead us to the creation of a new format," Nerijus Aleksiejunas, an advisor to Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, told BNS Lithuania.

The Irish president met with Grybauskaite on Tuesday, visited the parliament and honored the memory of the January 13 victims. On Wednesday, he will travel to Kaunas, Lithuania's second-largest city, accompanied by a group of businessmen, where he will receive an honorary doctorate from the Vytautas Magnus University.