RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/ACC/SPEC/LTU/5
29October 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-4521)
Original: English
ACCESSION OFLITHUANIA
Statement byMr.Algimantas Rimkúnas, Deputy Minister ofForeign Affairs,
atthethirdmeeting oftheWorking Party ontheAccession ofLithuania totheWTO
heldon7October 1996
Distinguished Mr.Chairman, distinguished Representatives oftheMembers oftheWTO,
distinguished members oftheSecretariat.
Onbehalf ofthedelegation ofLithuania, Iwould liketoexpress ourappreciation foryour
kindattendance oftheWorking Party meeting. Weconsider itasanexpression ofyourinterest in
theprocess ofaccession ofLithuania totheWTO andforthatwearegrateful. AsfortheLithuanian
side,Iwould liketoconfirm ourstrong determination tocontinue, during thisWorking Party meeting,
theprogress wehavereached intheprevious meetings.
Ladies andgentlemen, letmeremind youthatLithuania started tojointheGATT/WTO in
1994. Theaccession process wentinparallel withtheimplementation ofsignificant economic reforms
inourcountry. Iwould liketoemphasize thefactthat,sincetheverybeginning, theprocess ofaccession
hasbeenapriority inLithuania 'sforeign economic policy.
Therefore, sincetheconclusion ofthesecond Working Party meeting inMarch 1996, Lithuania
hascontinued toreview itsforeign anddomestic trade régime inthelightofWTO requirements. As
anoutcome ofthisreview on30July1996, Lithuania submitted thereplies totheadditional questions
onitsMemorandum ontheForeign Trade Régime andMemorandum ontheServices Régime, and
alsoInformation onSanitary andPhytosanitary Measures applied byLithuania. Thesupplementary
information onImport Licensing Procedures, Customs Valuation, Technical Barriers toTrade and
State-Trading were submitted totheWTO Secretariat.
Iwould alsoliketodraw yourattention tothefactthatLithuania hasapproached thephase
ofbilateral market access negotiations. Wehavesubmitted ourofferofInitial Commitments onTrade
inServices. Furthermore, today wepresented totheWTO Secretariat ourInitial Offer forMarket
Access Negotiations onGoods. Thelatterwasprepared referring toLithuania 'sGovernment Resolution
of27September 1996. Itstates thatthecustoms duties ofbound tariffratesapproved bythisResolution
should notbesubject toincrease. Weareauthorized topresent itasLithuania 'sinitial offer tothe
WTO Member States innegotiations ontheestablishment ofthebound rateoftariffs forcustoms duties.
Wedeeply hope thatsubmitted documents willprovide theagenda items forforthcoming bilateral
meetings andalsotopavethewayforfinalnegotiations ontheaccession ofLithuania totheWorld
Trade Organization. Weareready foranintensive calendar ofbilateral negotiations.
Ladies andGentlemen, Iwould nowliketogiveyouanupdate onmajor developments in
Lithuania 'seconomic andtrade régime since theconclusion ofthesecond Working Party meeting.
Firstofall,Iwould liketostress thatLithuania 'sGDPcontinues togrow since 1994. In1994
itincreased by1percent,in1995by3percent. During thesecond quarter ofthisyear,GDPincreasedWT/ACC/SPEC/LTU/5
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by6percentincomparison withthefirstquarter. Services playthekeyroleinthestructure ofGDP
in1996 butalsothere isanincrease intheshare ofindustry, agriculture, construction, trade and
transport.
Inflation hasbasically beenharnessed. Theinflation ratedropped from1163 percentin1992
down to36percentin1995. Monthly inflation inAugust 1996 reached zerolevel andinthefirst
eight months of1996 comprised 10percent. Duetothegrowth ofprices onheating by25percent
anincrease ofinflation isexpected bytheendofthisyear. Adecrease ofsubsidies inthisareashould
bementioned asapositive element offurther marketization oftheeconomy. Theexpected levelof
inflation in1996 willnotexceed 25percent.
ThenewLawonPrivatizationofStateandMunicipalityPropertyhascomeintoforce.According
tothisLaw, Stateandmunicipality property willbesoldforamarket priceincash. Theprivatization
processiscarriedoutbythePrivatizationCommissionapprovedbytheParliament,theStatePrivatization
Agency under theGovernment ofLithuania, Ministries, municipalities andprivatization institutions
ofmunicipalities. Thelistofprivatization objects of1996isapproved bytheGovernment ofLithuania.
Itisannounced intheinformation bulletin ofprivatization.
Theunemployment ratedropped from 8percentinJanuary to6.5inAugust thisyear. We
hopethistrend remains inthefuture.
Thebudget deficit inLithuania made up2.3percentofGDP in1995. TheStatepublic debt
waslessthan5percentofGDPin1995. Byinternational standards Lithuania 'sforeign debtismodest
currently amounting toapproximately one-sixth ofthecountry 'sGDP. Therateofcurrent borrowing
isnotcritical. Therefore, foreign debts should notposeanyproblems toLithuania 'sinternational
competitiveness.
Theforeign tradebalance ofLithuania isstillnegative butapositive trend isobserved in1996.
Comparing firsthalves of1996 and1995, exports increased by26percentwhile imports increased
by17percent. Trade withWestern countries makes upabout 50percentofgeneral turnover. The
maintradepartners indecreasing order areRussia, Germany, Belarus, Latvia andUkraine. Themain
products exported were textiles (16percent), mineral products (13.5 percent), chemical
products (12percent)andmachinery (11percent). Themainproducts imported weremineral products
(19percent), machinery (15.5 percent), transport vehicles (10percent) and chemical
products (10percent).
InJune1996, theParliament ofLithuania approved anamendment toLithuania 'sConstitution
toallow foreigners topurchase landinLithuania. Thisstep,inconnection withLithuania 'salready
liberal foreign investment régime, should encourage larger andmore-diversified foreign investments
intoitseconomy.
Lithuania alsoevaluates theimportance ofinstituting stable andnon-discriminatory customs
procedures. Asevidence toprove thisserves thefactthattheParliament ofLithuania recently approved
anewCustoms Code. Theappropriate parts ofthenewCode repeat verbatim theprovisions ofthe
Customs Valuation Agreement oftheGATT 1994 andwillgovern areas suchascustoms house
operations,procedures,tariffs,import/exportoperations,transitissues,rulesoforigin,customsvaluation,
etc. ThenewCustoms Code ofLithuania willcome intoforce on1January 1998. Before that,
implementing provisions willbeprepared andadopted bytheGovernment ofLithuania. Lithuania
willprovide acopyofthenewCode forreview bythemembers oftheWorking Party.WT/ACC/SPEC/LTU/5
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InJune, theGovernment ofLithuania adopted Resolution No.719,which replaces remaining
export prohibitions onsome products withexport duties. Forsome ofthese products export isduty
freeunder thequotas granted bytheMinistry ofHealth.
Intheareaofservices, itisimportant tomention thatthenewLawOnInsurance waspassed
inJuly. TheLawprovides thatforeign insurance companies musthavethepermission ofitsGovernment
toconduct insurance activity inforeign countries, however, other thanthisexception, treatment of
domestic andforeign insurance providers isthesame.
Lithuania isalsoworking toexpand thenumber andscope ofitsfreetradeagreements, keeping
inmind thetrade enhancing goals ofGATT Article XXIV.
Ladies andgentlemen, weconsider theaccession process totheWTO asanexceptional
experienceforfurtherimplementationofeconomicreformsandasanappropriatebasisfortheintegration
ofLithuania intotheWorld economic community.
Inconclusion, onbehalf ofthedelegation ofLithuania, Iwould onceagain liketoexpress
ourgratitude andappreciation toalltheparticipants, therepresentatives oftheMembers oftheWorld
Trade Organization andtheChairman, Mr.Peter Witt, fortheopportunity tospeak today andforyour
kindattention.
Thank you.