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.