Lithuania's president says he hopes Türkiye will continue to contribute to food security

By Aysu Bicer and Muhammet Ikbal Arslan

DAVOS, Switzerland (AA) - Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda voiced his appreciation for Türkiye’s efforts in finding channels to export Ukrainian grain to many countries, saying he hopes that Türkiye will continue to contribute to food security.

Speaking to Anadolu on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Nauseda praised the Turkish government's assistance in brokering a key deal that facilitated Ukrainian grain exports to many countries, averting a global food crisis.

Last July, Türkiye, the UN, Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement in Istanbul to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports which were paused after the Russia-Ukraine war began in February 2022.

More than 17 million tons of grain have been carried via the Black Sea grain corridor under the Black Sea Grain Initiative which Türkiye helped broker last year, according to the latest data from the Turkish National Defense Ministry.

Nauseda said Lithuania has also been contributing to these export schemes as they have alternative channels of delivery of Ukrainian grain which travels through Poland and other countries to Baltic ports.

"So, we all are engaged, and this is very important to stay united," he said.

Pointing out that he has a "very good" personal relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he said: "I am really looking forward to receiving him in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, at the NATO summit because Türkiye has been a very important member of NATO so far."

He also expects to see broader cooperation between the two countries in the future, saying: "This is not only about military cooperation because I see that there is a lot of potential to increase and expand cooperation in several areas."

Nauseda also recalled that Lithuanians launched crowdfunding to assist Ukraine to procure a TB2 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for Ukraine but Türkiye’s Baykar instead gifted it free of charge.

"People were so excited about this final result because the Turkish company decided just to deliver Bayraktar for free because they were very positive about this enthusiasm of Lithuanian people."

- Lithuania 'quite optimistic' about future

Asked how Lithuania cut its dependency on Russian gas amid the war, he said the country had done a lot in order to adjust its infrastructure to implement some important projects more than two decades ago, adding he is “quite optimistic” about the future.

The country's use of the floating Klaipeda LNG terminal off the Baltic coast helped cut its ties with Russian energy suppliers, he said, adding: "We don't buy Russian crude oil anymore. We have a big oil refinery in Mazeikiai that has a huge amount of crude oil. Then we established electricity links to Sweden and Poland. It let us not be dependent on the supply of Russian electricity."

"So, we implemented all the projects, which led us to the conclusion that we are ready to cut off ties with Russian energy suppliers and we did it in April of last year."

"And basically … this is not everything we would like to do because so far, we are still in the process of synchronization of continental Europe. I am talking about the electricity network. We are still in this post-Soviet system of electricity and this is the last important element of our energy dependence ... So those measures help us to survive and they help us to look positively to the future," he concluded.

Lithuania was the first European nation to halt all imports of Russian natural gas at the beginning of April.

Lithuania’s Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys previously said that the country would achieve full energy independence when it successfully implements synchronization, meets its electricity needs through local green energy production and becomes an electricity exporter.

The Klaipeda LNG terminal with cargoes from the US meet the country’s gas needs and local power generation and imports from EU countries through existing interconnections with Sweden, Poland and Latvia cover its electricity needs.