Operationalization of the Mission in Lithuania will allow India to deepen political relations and expand its footprint in the Baltic country
India has operationalized the new resident Mission in Vilnius, the capital city of Lithuania with effect from Friday, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

“Delighted to share that the Embassy of India, Vilnius has started operations today. Our resident Mission will further strengthen the India-Lithuania partnership,” Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar said in his tweet on March 31.



Operationalization of the Indian Mission in Lithuania will help expand India’s diplomatic footprint, deepen political relations and strategic cooperation, enable growth of bilateral trade, investment, and economic engagements, facilitate stronger people-to-people contacts and enable more sustained political outreach in multilateral form. Indian Mission in Lithuania will also better assist the Indian community and protect their interests, the MEA said.



On April 27, 2022, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had accorded approval to the opening of a new Indian Mission in Lithuania. During that meeting, the Union Cabinet said, “Decision to open a new Indian Mission in Vilnius was a forward-looking step in pursuit of our national priority of growth and development or ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas.’ Enhancement of India’s diplomatic presence will, inter-alia, provide market access for Indian companies and bolster Indian exports of goods and services. This would have a direct impact in augmenting domestic production and employment in line with our goal of a self-reliant India or Atmanirbhar Bharat.”



India recognized Lithuania (along with the other Baltic States of Latvia and Estonia) on September7, 1991 after acceptance of their independence by the erstwhile USSR. Diplomatic relations were established with Lithuania on February25, 1992.



Lithuania opened its Embassy in New Delhi on July 1, 2008 and has Honorary Consuls in Mumbai and in Bengaluru. An Honorary Consul of India in Vilnius has been in operation since October 2014.



Under the Protocol on Foreign Office Consultations signed in Vilnius in August 1995, eight rounds of FOCs have been held between India and Lithuania so far.



These talks have focused on bilateral, regional, and international issues. The 8th round of Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) between India and Lithuania was held on March 16, 2022 in New Delhi.



In the economic field, the bilateral trade between the two countries reached a record high of US$367.15 million in the year 2016-17 before decreasing to US$339.51 million in 2018-19. In 2021-22, the bilateral trade stood at $531.77 million.



Major Indian imports from Lithuania include: Edible vegetables, wood and articles of wood, textiles, plastics, and articles thereof, electrical machinery and equipment, iron and steel, optical, photographic, and measuring instruments, copper, zinc and articles thereof. Major Indian exports to Lithuania include: nuclear boilers and reactors, pharmaceutical products, fish, organic chemicals, tobacco and manufactured tobacco, textile articles, iron and steel, plastic and articles thereof, miscellaneous chemical products.



HCL Technologies Lithuania UAB, a 100% subsidiary of HCL Technologies Ltd., and engaged in business consulting, solution implementation and ongoing application management, started its operation in August of 2016.



HCL’s Operation Centre was formally inaugurated on December 11, 2019 in Vilnius, Lithuania. Their main customers are Barclays Bank, Kraft Foods & Mondelez Global LLC. It has two centers in Vilnius – a near shore site for the Europe region and a language capability center for global business.



Indorama development: An important development in the economic field has been the investment of about US$200 million by Indorama, a Lohia Group company, from their Thailand branch, in the Klaipeda Economic Zone in a plant to manufacture plastic resin. This investment has given visibility to India in Lithuania. It is the largest single line PET resin plant in Europe with the lowest carbon footprint.



Cultural relations between India and Lithuania are very strong; study of Indian languages (mainly Hindi and Sanskrit) has been carried out at the Vilnius University for several decades. A separate center of Indian studies, under the Department of Oriental Studies, was set up in Vilnius University in 1996.



In August 2006, the Vilnius University hosted the 2nd Regional Conference of Central & Eastern Europe on Indian Studies (CEEIS) under the auspices of ICCR. A compilation of 108 common words of Sanskrit in Lithuanian languages has been brought out by the Oriental Centre of the Vilnius University jointly with the Lithuanian Embassy.

Lithuanians have great interest in Indian cultural traditions, including Yoga.



An estimated 70% Lithuanians visiting India have spiritual and yogic interests. Yoga and Sanskrit are also taught in several Lithuanian cities. The International Day of Yoga is being celebrated every year in Vilnius and several other cities of Lithuania.