Dubai: The UAE is eyeing stronger trade ties with Lithuania, particularly in the fields of innovation including information technology and renewable energy.

During the UAE-Lithuania Economic Forum on Wednesday, representatives from both countries said they will be signing agreements to boost economic cooperation amid “huge potential” for growth in bilateral trade ties.

Sultan Al Mansouri, the UAE’s Minister of Economy, said that the ministry will use these agreements to “draft a roadmap of picking up relationships in different sectors.”

In a speech, the minister said that the focus on boosting ties with Lithuania comes as the UAE aims to reduce its economic reliance on oil income, which currently accounts for 30 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

“Our leadership wants it [oil contribution to GDP] to be brought down to zero. The challenges are there. How can we actually provide for [the future where] a nation considered to be one of the top 10 oil producers... will bring down the contribution of oil down to zero? That can only be done if we include areas such as innovation into the build-up of the diversity of our economy, and that’s exactly what we are doing right now,” Al Mansouri said.

Also speaking at the forum in Dubai was Zygimantas Vaiciunas, Lithuania’s Minister of Energy, who said that he had spoken with the UAE’s Minister of Energy about possible collaboration in renewable energy and in implementing solutions for energy conservation.

Vaiciunas said he will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding with his Emirati counterpart on cooperation in those fields.

In 2016, bilateral trade between the UAE and Lithuania reached $132 million (Dh484.8 million), up from the $74.5 million in trade seen in 2015, Al Mansouri said.