Cabinet approves the Extradition Treaty between India and Lithuania

•  The Union Cabinet has given its approval for the signing and ratification of the Extradition Treaty between India and Lithuania.
• The Treaty would provide a legal framework for seeking extradition of terrorists, economic offenders and other criminals from and to Lithuania.
• The Treaty would help in extradition of fugitive criminals including terrorists for criminal prosecutions from Lithuania who may have committed crimes against India.
• It will bring the criminals to justice, with a view to ensure peace and tranquility to public at large.
• Extradition is the surrender of a criminal to one country by another. It also helps in maintaining the territoriality of the penal code which says that a country should not apply its criminal law to a person who committed an offence outside its territories except when the crime is related the countries national interest. The process is regulated by treaties between the two countries.

Analysis:

• Lithuania established diplomatic relations with India in 1992 after regaining independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991.
• The Lithuanian political leadership, while attempting to promote relations with India, endorsed that Indians and Lithuanians have similarities in culture, language, customs and ancestry.
• According to Lithuanian statistics, bilateral trade was USD 117.9 million during 2009 and USD 184 mn in 2010. In 2011, bilateral trade reached USD 203 mn. In the first quarter of 2013, bilateral trade reached Euro 23 mn. An Indian Baltic Chamber of Commerce (IBCC) was formed in Vilnius in 2009 while an India-Lithuania Forum was inaugurated in September 2010.
• Major items of import from India include pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, textiles and consumer goods. Major items of export to India include machinery and mechanical appliances, high tech optical instruments, base metals and articles of base metal, chemicals, sulphur, lime and cement.
• Over the last few years, some Indian IT experts have been coming to Lithuania to work on IT projects for varying periods. Several Indians work in the Klaipeda-based USD 200 million PET plant of the OP Lohia Group.

By: Vishal