Nepal and Lithuania established diplomatic ties in February 2005. Nepal designated its Embassy in Copenhagen (Denmark) as a non-resident mission to Lithuania, and the Lithuanian Embassy in New Delhi represents Lithuania in Nepal. There have been minimal contacts and exchanges between the two countries. Trade, tourism and investment relations between the two countries are at a very low level. The Post caught up with Diana Mickeviciene, the ambassador of Lithuania to India, during her recent visit to Nepal to discuss Lithuania’s cutting-edge technology and its graduation to a developed economy, as well as bilateral economic, trade and tourism relations between the two small nations. Excerpts:

Tell us about the bilateral economic and trade relations between Nepal and Lithuania.

We are both small countries, far away from each other. But some trade is going both ways. For instance, we have exported medical cotton to Nepal in large quantities. And we have been buying tea and spices from Nepal. However, the trade amount is not very big. I think the biggest exchange we already have is the trade of services. Currently, there are some businesses that are trading services which are not reflected in the conventional trade balance. Our (Lithuania) economy is small but very innovative and digitalised. My country has gone far in more than 30 years of transformation. When we liberated ourselves from the Soviet Union, we were in shambles. Our economy was down completely, and people were very poor. But now we have graduated into a developed economy. We are considered a high-income country. So I think we've come a very long way. And what I see is Nepal is going a similar way. Nepal started slightly later, and the country is much bigger, with ten times Lithuania’s population. So challenges are, of course, more. And I think education is a big challenge. As we have done this transformation, we continue on digitalisation and on so many modernisation paths. This is the area we can help in advising and guiding because we just did it ourselves and we know how it works. I have been meeting a number of ministers to see which areas the Lithuanian expertise and experience could be best applied in the context of Nepal. So that's a new chapter that I want to open.

You met Rekha Sharma, the minister for Communication, Information, and Technology. Can you share what issues were discussed?

Since Lithuania ranks sixth in terms of cybersecurity globally, this is one area specifically where our expertise and knowledge could be very applicable, as Nepal has adopted a cybersecurity strategy and guidelines and is embarking on creating the National Cybersecurity Center. We have many companies which work in that area providing services to many others. For instance, the National Cybersecurity Center in Bhutan and the National Institution in Charge of Cybersecurity in Bangladesh were designed by a Lithuanian company. So we think that is what works well in this context. We would be happy to assist Nepal in the cybersecurity area. We could bring a group of experts to advise and guide Nepal.

Exports and imports between Nepal and Lithuania have been declining. What should be done to boost bilateral trade between the two small nations for mutual benefit?

The trade volumes are up and down and fluctuate year-on-year and this happens with many other countries. During Covid, we exported pharmaceutical agents for vaccines and the trade went up. But later, it declined because there was no need for it. So what we are trying to build now is high-tech cooperation which means the exchange of technology and services. This is one of the sectors which Nepal and Lithuania can exchange in future. We will never measure our relationship in conventional trade as the distance between the two countries is far. Also, nowadays, many producers who used to export have relocated to other regions and are producing in another country, thus changing the export origin, but the product remains Lithuanian. But of course, we need to work and check how our ICT sectors can work together. It's mostly private businesses. But as I said, as a very small but very dynamic government, we also have government-to-government proposals and solutions. So that's why I'm meeting in the ministry and trying to see the needs. We have a super strong laser industry. For decades, we have developed very good laser bays. The screens of an iPhone are cut by using a Lithuanian laser because we supply those laser cutting technologies to iPhone manufacturers—10 percent of the world's scientific lasers are from Lithuania. Our biometrics, which is part of a robotics system, companies have been working around the world and in South Asia helping to verify digital identities like those on voter lists or other registers. In India, the Aadhaar system has a tiny bit of Lithuanian technology used in it. So, we will always have a niche role, but whenever this expertise is needed, then we can really provide it.

A small number of tourists visit Nepal from Lithuania. How can Nepal attract tourists from Lithuania?

I have visited Nepal as a tourist twice, long ago and I think all of my friends have been to Nepal. We are a very small country and will always be small if you compare it to a much bigger country. Nevertheless, to attract tourists, there is a need to advertise a little more as I think Nepal has excellent things to offer for a reasonable price which is also very important. For now, I can see that almost every Lithuanian can afford a trip to Nepal. The Nepali embassy and travel agencies could also do a little more advertising. I, as a friend of Nepal, am very happy to say and testify to anyone who asks that it's a great country to visit. Be it cultural and religious tourism, mountain trekking, spa, or wellness, I think Nepal has everything. It's easy to reach because connectivity is really good. And it's easy to stay and enjoy as the country is not so super expensive, it's affordable.

So what kinds of products are in demand in Nepal and Lithuania?

I think from Lithuania it would be electronic devices, digital devices which are needed now in everyday manufacturing processes. For instance, in telematics, any production line with many vehicles or equipment must monitor how they all work. This is where Lithuania is again pioneering. We have 30 percent of India's market in the hardware of telematics. So a Lithuanian company is successfully working in India. It will be IT applications or IT-enabling hardware solutions that we are very good at. From Nepal I think lots of traditional exports could also be interesting as our way of thinking and understanding of fashion and interior is quite similar. For instance, we are a wooden culture. So for us, the idea of a cosy house is wood and textiles, which Nepal produces, which has an excellent market in Lithuania. But in the future, I think, with technologies, ecological farming products will be in demand as the population becomes aware of health and sustainability requirements and not just requirements but use for own consumption. So that's where anything that is ecological and sustainable gets traction, and that's a high-value thing already. It's not a simple potato or tomato, but it's made of ecologically grown products.

So how can Nepal and Lithuania work together for mutual benefit?

We are here to learn about the changes in Nepal, about the future needs, and about the areas where we are good. We are also here to exchange opinions on issues of global concern, like climate change, which has highly affected both Nepal and Lithuania. None of our countries are great polluters. We, too, are a very minor polluter, much below our obligations, in fact. So how small countries can be together to make sure that the world is really against further global warming is important.

Further, I also stress to the Nepal government that we are very grateful for a very principled stance of Nepal vis-a-vis the Russian war against Ukraine. It's a war which is just next door, it's 500 kilometres from my home. Nepal, on a number of occasions, voted in the United Nations to say no to aggression. So I think we are also very grateful and appreciative. Also, we have this unique connection that I wanted to tell, which is a tiny, small, quaint language which was preserved in villages of our country as a very antique, ancient language that is very close to Sanskrit.

Since Lithuanian is considered the closest living language, a sister language of Sanskrit. We have started this collaboration with academic institutions here, and Raghunath Adhikari from the Tribhuvan University defended his dissertation on the issue of linguistic similarities last year. And he is the first PhD in Asia to actually do this. So we are happy that we have this connection and he has become a friend of Lithuania. Through him we know about what is happening at the university. Tribhuvan University already has a Memorandum of Understanding with Vilnius University, which is our oldest and main university. So academic collaboration is also very important because there are people working also on technologies, and know-how, which ultimately lead to business cooperation.