Lithuania considers Germany a partner with which it has close and friendly relations and an important point of reference within the EU. The country has special historical ties with Germany owing to the fact that Lithuania Minor, or Prussian Lithuania, which included the cities of Klaipėda (Memel) and Šilutė (Heydekrug), used to be part of the German Reich. Bilateral relations are based on solidarity and partnership in the EU and NATO as well as on a close-knit network of contacts in business, science, culture and society.

Defence cooperation within the NATO framework was intensified after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and stepped up yet further following Russia’s attack on Ukraine. The clearest example of this is the decision to station a Bundeswehr brigade in Lithuania on a permanent basis as a visible expression of Germany’s new defence-policy priorities and its clear commitment to security in Central and Eastern Europe. The brigade is currently being assembled; training and exercises have begun.

Germany is one of Lithuania’s principal trading partners and a major investor in the country.

Cultural relations are based on an agreement signed in 1993. The Goethe-Institut in Vilnius plays a particularly important role in these relations. Interest in the German language has been growing in keeping with the positive development of bilateral relations; the German Language Days initiated by all the German institutions active in Lithuania are held annually throughout the country.

In addition to the 60 or so town twinning arrangements and local partnerships, there are lively school, university and youth exchange programmes between the two countries. A German-Lithuanian war graves agreement was signed in 1996 and since then several German military cemeteries have been consecrated and restored.