This blog post was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

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David Lidington

Minister for Europe, London

Part of FCDO Outreach

9th September 2010 London, UK

British weather (and investment) in Lithuania

Resuming my video blog with a post from Vilnius, Lithuania. Transcript:

‘Well today I’m in Vilnius the capital of Lithuania. And as you can see they’ve kindly arranged some British weather to greet me so I feel that summer really is home from home. I’ve been having some talks with the Lithuanian Foreign Minster about various European issues. It’s astonishing. Lithuania, just over 20 years ago, was part of the Soviet Union. It is now a free independent democracy, a partner of ours in the European Union and in Nato. So we discussed both those organisations, we discussed security concerns, the financial issues to do with the European Union, relations with Russia and with Turkey.

I’ve also been to visit Barclays Bank which has set up a big operation here in Vilnius. I think this is a good place for investment. Lithuania shares the UK’s views about the need for free and open markets in Europe. There’s the rule of law, a good trade and investment environment here so I very much want to see the trade and investment relationship between the UK and Lithuania strengthened.’

You can also read a transcript of the speech I delivered at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at the University of Vilnius.

About David Lidington

David Lidington MP was appointed Minister of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office on 14 May 2010. David Lidington was elected to Parliament in 1992 and is the Member…

David Lidington MP was appointed Minister of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office on 14 May 2010.
David Lidington was elected to Parliament in 1992 and is the Member of Parliament for Aylesbury.
He worked for BP and RTZ before spending three years as Special Advisor to Douglas Hurd in the Home Office and Foreign Office.
His proudest political achievement was successfully promoting a
Private Members Bill which became the Chiropractors Act in 1994. He
believes that this piece of legislation has made a real difference to
many people’s lives.
He has a long standing passion for history, and has twice captained a
champion team on University Challenge, first in 1979 and then in 2002
when the Sidney Sussex team became “champion of champions” in University
Challenge Reunited.
He is married to Helen Lidington and has four sons.