At the World Economic Forum in Davos, President Gitanas Nausėda stressed the importance of the Three Seas Initiative not only in strengthening transatlantic ties, but also in changing the direction in which Europe moves. The Lithuanian President invited the world’s business leaders to actively participate in the Business Forum at the Three Seas Initiative Summit to be held in Vilnius in April.

The Lithuanian leader took part in an open discussion at the Three Seas Initiative House together with Polish President Andrzej Duda, Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.

“Russia’s aggression in Ukraine has shown that we need to strengthen transatlantic cooperation and Europe’s resilience in the areas of energy, food security and the environment; first and foremost by speeding up key infrastructure projects. The strategic importance of the Three Seas Initiative, in which cooperation is based on the North-South axis, has increased significantly, both for regional security and as a counterweight to the prevailing East-West axis,” the Head of State spoke.

The President stressed that the development of transport links, the development of energy infrastructure and the creation of resilient infrastructure for both civilian and military purposes are key challenges for regional integration. As an example of such integration, Gitanas Nausėda referred to the strategic decision of the Baltic States to implement synchronization of the Baltic electricity system with continental Europe one year ahead of schedule.

During the discussion, the Lithuanian Head of State stressed the importance of transport links, in particular the Via Baltica and Via Carpathia highways and the Rail Baltica railway, for the development of regional cooperation and security.

“The importance of military mobility was highlighted at the NATO Summit in Vilnius. Today, when Russia is aggressively threatening the security of the whole region, the ability to move troops quickly is crucial. At the same time, transport links ensure even closer economic cooperation between the countries of the region and the development of tourism, as well as expanding the opportunities to connect to global transport routes,” President Gitanas Nausėda pointed out.

The Lithuanian presidency of the Three Seas Initiative is focusing on mobilizing support for Ukraine’s accelerated integration into the EU and for the reconstruction of the country without waiting for the end of the war.

Gitanas Nausėda also presented the agenda of the Three Seas Initiative Summit to be held in Vilnius in April this year and invited business community to actively participate in the Business Forum and other events of the Initiative to be held in the Lithuanian capital.