On 16th June, Mr. Eric Huang, Representative of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania and Mr. Lukauskas, Representative of Lithuanian Trade Representative Office signed the " Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on cooperation in the field of Agriculture”. The event was presided over by Mr. Chun Lee, Deputy Minister of Taiwan’s Foreign Affairs. Ms. Wen-jane Tu, Deputy Minister of COA, Taiwan and Mr. Vytenis Tomkus, Vice Minister of Agriculture, Lithuania, were also invited to witness the signing. The two sides promised to build a platform for dialogue on agricultural cooperation and to regularly exchange views on subjects including agricultural policy, innovative agricultural technology, market access, and trade facilitation, in order to deepen bilateral agricultural cooperation, trade, and investment.

The COA points out that the signing of the “Taiwan-Lithuania MOU on Cooperation in the Field of Agriculture” held significant importance for the substantive development of the bilateral agricultural relationship. COA Deputy Minister Wen-jane Tu and Lithuania’s Vice Minister of Agriculture Vytenis Tomkus, who led a delegation to Taipei, to hold the “1st Taiwan-Lithuania Agricultural Working Group Meeting” on June 15. The two sides exchanged views on strategies related to net zero carbon emissions in agriculture and methods of adapting to climate change, and reached consensus on a number of issues including strengthening public-private-partnerships in agri-food production, linking innovative agricultural technologies, and deepening bilateral agricultural trade. Both sides committed to promoting cooperation in organic agriculture, facilitating business opportunities for carbon sequestration and negative carbon innovative technologies in both countries’ agribusinesses, and jointly developing the markets for agricultural food products in Europe and Asia, with the goal of promoting sustainable agricultural development and raising farmers’ incomes in both countries.

Vice Minister Tomkus expressed his delight for Lithuania to become the fifth EU country, following the Netherlands, France, Hungary, and Poland, to sign an agricultural cooperation MOU with Taiwan, they believe that, after establishing an agricultural cooperation dialogue platform between the two countries, it will create a mutually beneficial agricultural exchange model in the future.

Lithuania is one of Europe’s important producers of grain and livestock. In recent years the trade value of agri-food products between Taiwan and Lithuania has steadily increased. Main agricultural and food products imported into Taiwan from Lithuania include wood materials, cheese, liquor, chocolate, and pet food. Taiwan’s main export to Lithuania is beverages. On this visit to Taiwan, The Lithuania delegation visited Tea Research and Extension Station, COA and Agricultural Technology Research Institute and also attended the 2023 Taipei International Food Show to gain a deeper understanding of Taiwan's high-quality agri-food products and the technological research as well as research and development achievements in agricultural processing, environmental friendliness, and achieving net-zero carbon emissions.