On December 6, the Constitutional Hall of the Seimas of Lithuania hosted the BUILD BACK FASTER forum. As part of the forum, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Ukrainian-Lithuanian Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on the implementation of the Nazovni digital platform for economic diplomacy.
The event was attended by the Chairman of the Committee on National Security and Defense of the Lithuanian Parliament, member of the Group for Interparliamentary Relations with Ukraine Laurynas Kasčiūnas, MP, member of the Group for Interparliamentary Relations with Ukraine Rimantė Šalaševičiūtė, Head of the State Agency for the Restoration and Development of Infrastructure of Ukraine Mustafa-Masi Nayem, Director of the State Enterprise Prozorro Mykola Tkachenko, as well as representatives of Lithuanian and Ukrainian companies that are members of the Ukrainian-Lithuanian Chamber of Commerce.
At the forum, participants discussed the importance of rebuilding Ukraine's infrastructure right now, and considered future prospects through such tools as business cooperation, attracting private investment, and sharing experiences between partner countries. Ukrainian enterprises that have started their business activities in Lithuania since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as well as Lithuanian businesses operating in Ukraine, had the opportunity to share their thoughts and experience on building a business in Lithuania.
The Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Lithuania Petro Beshta in his speech drew the participants' attention to the main stages of the recovery model implementation. According to the Ambassador of Ukraine to Lithuania: "Reconstruction is a battle for peace. Full-scale reconstruction is a look into the future, after the war. You may win the war, but failing to rebuild, it is impossible to achieve sustainable peace and an effectively functioning state."
Lithuanian speakers spoke about reconstruction projects already implemented in Ukraine: a school in Borodyanka and a kindergarten in Irpin were built. They also discussed the critical importance of rebuilding educational institutions, as the Russian occupiers have destroyed more than 3,000 schools in Ukraine.
At the panel discussion, the following Ukrainian companies had the opportunity to share their experience of starting a business in Lithuania: Nova Post Baltics, Nova Pay, Textile, Kharkiv Private School Gravity. They discussed the differences and similarities between doing business in Lithuania and Ukraine.