The minister applauded US President Barack Obama's statement on negotiations with Europe, stressing that establishment of the world's largest free trade zone would help Europe overcome the crisis.
"It is highly valuable that President Obama listed it among other priorities, we welcome this. During EU presidency, Lithuania will seek to draft free trade agreements with the US. It is among the priorities," Linkevičius told BNS on Wednesday.
In his words, "the role of the US in the EU security context and development of economic ties is very important, it is hard to overestimate."
Obama announced plans to establish the world's largest free trade zone in his state of the union address on Tuesday.
"And tonight, I’m announcing that we will launch talks on a comprehensive Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union, because trade that is fair and free across the Atlantic supports millions of good-paying American jobs," Obama said in his annual address.
Proposed a year ago, the idea of an EU-US free trade agreement has been revived on both sides of the Atlantic in an effort to stimulate growth of weakened economies and creation of jobs.
In Linkevičius' words, US investments would be very significant for Europe's recovery.
"American presence in European markets and accession of their capital and investments are extremely important for Europe's economic recovery. We understand well that more stimulating actions will be necessary. It is the activities of the world's largest economies that will determine how soon we will handle the crisis de facto, not de jure – some indicators show improvements, but the period takes time. It is important for Lithuania and the rest of the EU," the minister said.
The minister refused to forecast the progress to be made before and during Lithuania's EU presidency in July-December this year.
"We will only have an exact national presidency program in the end of June. We will not reinvent the bicycle, we will simply take over the work from Ireland and will hand it over to Greece. Continuity is very important. It is hard to say now what weight and significance it will have," Linkevičius told BNS.
