As much as 86 percent of the respondents pointed out that the level of transparency in Estonia’s business and economy was higher than in Lithuania. Estonia was also considered more business-friendly in terms of red tape environment (81 percent), business ethics (76 percent), tax environment (71 percent) and legal base (60 percent), the chamber said in a press release.
“In Estonia, the companies may allocate much more time and resources for direct operations, innovations, instead of dealing with red tape and paperwork. What's most important is that mutual trust prevails between business companies and the authorities in Estonia, whereas in Lithuania, it is sometimes the case that you have to prove you have not violated any rules before anyting else,” the press release quoted Robertas Juodka, the chairman of the chamber and the head of international law firm Varul Lietuva, as saying.
According to the poll, 76 percent of the respondents believe that mentality of the general population has contributed to Estonia’s economic success and 84 percent mention pragmatism of the Estonians as one of its key elements.
Almost 40 Estonian-owned companies operating in Lithuania took part in the poll in January.
