LITHUANIA DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
IN THIS ISSUE:
- Upcoming events in Lithuania for Thursday, April 4, 2024
- Lithuania records no illegal border crossings from Belarus
- Lithuanian formin urges NATO to agree on long-term aid for Ukraine, its path to Alliance
- NATO should aim for higher than EUR 100 b funding for Ukraine – Lithuanian diplomat
- Lithuania mulls Chinese software bank for powerful private solar, wind farms – minister
- EBRD president to pay 1st visit to Lithuania
- Businesses, not state, would build nuclear reactors in Lithuania – minister
- NATO's biggest battles may lie ahead – Lithuania's Landsbergis
- Lithuania's CEC registers Nauseda, Simonyte, Zalimas as presidential candidates
- New Vilnius campaign will invite Brits, Germans to break stereotypes
- NATO fund would ensure Ukraine aid independent of 'political winds' – Lithuanian president
- Ukrainian PM to visit Vilnius Friday
- Ukrainian PM to visit Vilnius Friday (expands)
- Upcoming events in Lithuania for Friday, April 5, 2024
Upcoming events in Lithuania for Thursday, April 4, 2024
VILNIUS, Apr 04, BNS – The following events are scheduled in Lithuania for Thursday, April 4, 2024.
VICE SPEAKER OF THE SEIMAS Radvile Morkunaite-Mikuleniene to meet Norway's State Secretary Maria Varteressian at 11.30 a.m.
DEFENSE MINISTER Laurynas Kasciunas to meet with Ukrainian Ambassador to Lithuania Petro Beshta at 10 a.m.
CULTURE MINISTER Simonas Kairys to pay a working visit to Zurich.
FOREIGN MINISTER Gabrielius Landsbergis to attend a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.
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Lithuania records no illegal border crossings from Belarus
VILNIUS, Apr 04, BNS – Lithuanian border guards have in the past 24 hours recorded no attempts to cross into the country from Belarus illegally, the State Border Guard Service (SBGS) said on Thursday morning.
Latvia reported 26 attempts at illegal border crossings on Wednesday, and 225 irregular migrants were not allowed into Poland on Tuesday, according to the latest available information.
Lithuanian border guards have turned away a total of 145 migrants so far this year.
A total of 2,643 irregular migrants were barred from entering Lithuania from Belarus at non-designated places last year, down from 11,211 in 2022.
The influx of irregular migrants to the EU's eastern member states from Belarus began in 2021 and is blamed by the West on the Minsk regime.
Almost 4,200 irregular migrants crossed into Lithuania from Belarus illegally in 2021. However, the vast majority of them fled Lithuania once they were allowed to move freely.
Lithuanian border guards have prevented a total of almost 22,000 people from crossing in from Belarus since August 3, 2021, when they were given the right to turn away irregular migrants. The number includes repeated attempts by the same people to cross the border.
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Lithuanian formin urges NATO to agree on long-term aid for Ukraine, its path to Alliance
VILNIUS, Apr 04, BNS – Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis on Wednesday called on NATO to agree on long-term support for Ukraine and its path to the Alliance, the Foreign Ministry said.
"The Alliance must first agree on long-term support for Ukraine, its path to NATO, and a strategy to contain Russia," it quoted Lithuania's top diplomat as saying during NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels.
NATO ministers discussed preparations for the upcoming Washington Summit in July, ways to institutionalize coordination of support to Ukraine, the threat posed by Russia, security challenges in the Alliance's southern neighborhood, and cooperation with the Indo-Pacific region.
On Thursday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will update his NATO counterparts on Kyiv's most pressing defense needs at the NATO-Ukraine Council's meeting in Brussels.
"The atmosphere of the summit in Washington will be determined not only by our intentions or how we communicate about them, but also by developments on the front, what will be agreed on the start of negotiations on Ukraine's EU membership, and other factors,
Landsbergis said.
On Wednesday, NATO's ministers debated the creation of a 100-billion-euro, five-year fund for Ukraine.
The current proposal envisions NATO members contributing to the fund according to the size of their economy. However, some Western countries are skeptical about the initiative.
In Brussels, the three Baltic foreign ministers also met with their German counterpart Annalena Baerbock to discuss "strengthening defense and deterrence on the eastern flank of NATO and preparations for the summit in Washington, D.C.," the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said.
At their summit in the Lithuanian capital last July, NATO leaders pledged to invite Ukraine to join the Alliance "when Allies agree and conditions are met".
Kyiv hopes to receive an invitation to join NATO during this year's summit in Washington, D.C., but is unlikely to get one.
In Brussels, Landsbergis will also attend a meeting of the Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8) foreign ministers and NATO's 75th anniversary celebration.
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NATO should aim for higher than EUR 100 b funding for Ukraine – Lithuanian diplomat
VILNIUS, Apr 04, BNS – NATO should aim for more than 100 billion euros in financing for Ukraine, Deividas Matulionis, Lithuania's ambassador to the Alliance, said on Thursday.
Amid discussions among NATO members about long-term support for Ukraine, the diplomat said that Lithuania's position is that the model could also include bilateral aid.
"We, Lithuania, say that 100 billion euros for five years is not that much, and we should consider a larger amount and possibly include what we are bilaterally providing to Ukraine," he told LRT Radio.
"The discussion has started and I hope that we will move towards specific decisions that will be more binding, not just voluntary contributions," he said.
At their meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, NATO's top diplomats discussed the creation of a 100-billion-euro, five-year fund for Ukraine.
The current proposal envisions NATO's 32 members contributing to the fund according to the size of their economy. However, some Western countries are skeptical about the initiative.
According to Matulionis, discussions on the specific funding rules include setting a specific percentage of countries' GDP, as well as allocating financing for Ukraine as a part of allies' contribution to NATO activities.
"One option would be (...) for everyone to aim for 0.2 percent or 0.25 percent of GDP (...), because the problem today is that countries are financing Ukraine very unevenly," he said.
In Brussels, NATO foreign ministers are also discussing the prospects for Ukraine's membership of the Alliance.
On Thursday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will update his NATO counterparts on Kyiv's most pressing defense needs at the NATO-Ukraine Council's meeting in the Belgian capital.
At their summit in the Lithuanian capital last July, NATO leaders pledged to invite Ukraine to join the Alliance "when Allies agree and conditions are met".
Kyiv hopes to receive an invitation to join NATO during this year's summit in Washington, D.C., but is unlikely to get one.
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Lithuania mulls Chinese software bank for powerful private solar, wind farms – minister
VILNIUS, Apr 04, BNS – Lithuania's Energy Ministry intends to ban private developers of solar and wind power plants with a capacity of more than 100 kilowatts (kW) from using Chinese software, Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys says, adding that no such restrictions are planned for low-power power plants set up by residents.
"We are preparing documents so that all equipment that generates more than 100 kW cannot use any Chinese software," Kreivys told the Ziniu Radijas news radio on Thursday when asked whether Lithuania should abandon Chinese technology in the country's energy system.
"That is what we plan. I think that the decisions we will make will solve the problem," the minister said.
Lithuania already has a ban or state institutions to install any Chinese-made software, he pointed out.
With the growing number of household consumers, there is currently no threat of excessive use of Chinese software in their devices, the minister said.
For his part, Vidmantas Janulevicius, president of the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists, told the Seimas Committee on Economics in late March that Chinese software was often used in the installation of renewable energy capacities in Lithuania and Europe. He suggested looking for funds to replace Chinese software in existing power plants with Western software.
Editor: Roma Pakėnienė
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EBRD president to pay 1st visit to Lithuania
VILNIUS, Apr 04, BNS - Odile Renaud-Basso, president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, will pay her first visit to Lithuania next week.
She is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, Finance Minister Gintare Skaiste and the bank's clients, the bank said on Thursday.
Discussions will focus on supporting the private sector and capital markets in the region to unlock investment opportunities, as well as ways to support their renewable energy potential.
"The three Baltic states have faced a challenging economic environment and seen reduced investor appetite as a result of Russia’s war on Ukraine," the EBRD said in a statement.
According to the EBRD president, the Baltic visit will be aimed at reaffirming the bank's strong commitment to invest in the region.
"We stand ready to invest further in all three countries, to support their renewable energy potential and foster growth in both the private sector and the wider economy," Renaud-Basso said.
She will also participate in the Three Seas Initiative’s Business Forum at the Presidential Palace in Vilnius on April 11.
Before coming to Vilnius, Renaud-Basso will also pay her first visit to Tallinn and Riga. Her Baltic visit will take place on April 8-11.
The EBRD is a leading institutional investor in the Baltic states. To date, the bank has invested more than 1.5 billion euros in 126 projects in Lithuania.
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Businesses, not state, would build nuclear reactors in Lithuania – minister
VILNIUS, Apr 04, BNS – Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys said on Thursday that future nuclear reactors in Lithuania would not be built by the state, adding that nuclear energy development will largely depend on the cost of technology and privately-owned businesses' willingness to invest in such projects.
"(It will depend) on how much technology will cost and whether there will be companies willing to do it. The state will not build such facilities," he told the Ziniu Radijas radio station, commenting on the Energy Ministry's proposal to develop small nuclear power reactors as an option to ensure stable electricity production in the future.
Lithuania's new National Energy Independence Strategy is based on the development of renewable energy sources and includes next-generation nuclear energy as just one of future options, according to Kreivys.
The minister said the number one reason for considering modern nuclear reactors in Lithuania will be their positive impact on electricity prices and their stability.
"(We have to look at) how much this will lower costs for households and businesses," Kreivys said.
"With a flexible nuclear reactor, we can integrate more renewable energy into the system, and many industries need a very stable electricity supply," he added.
Kreivys has said earlier that fourth-generation nuclear reactors are safer than previous generations of nuclear power plants. He also believes that nuclear energy would reduce the energy system maintenance costs for industry and consumers.
For Lithuania to have a small nuclear reactor operational by around 2040, political decisions would have to be made between 2028 and 2030, he noted.
Editor: Roma Pakėnienė
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NATO's biggest battles may lie ahead – Lithuania's Landsbergis
VILNIUS, Apr 04, BNS - NATO's biggest battles may lie ahead and the alliance must be ready for them, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis says.
"Unfortunately, it could be that NATO’s biggest battles and fights are still in the future. We have to be very much prepared for that because if those battles come to us and we are not prepared, that will be the biggest mistake that we can ever have," Landsbergis said at an event in Brussels to mark NATO's 75th anniversary.
Last week, Lithuania marked 20 years since it became a full-fledged member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Lithuania applied to join NATO on January 4, 1994 and became a full-fledged member on March 29, 2004.
The world's most powerful defense alliance currently has 32 allies.
By Vilmantas Venckūnas
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Lithuania's CEC registers Nauseda, Simonyte, Zalimas as presidential candidates
VILNIUS, Apr 04, BNS – Lithuania's Central Electoral Commission on Thursday registered the first three presidential candidates - Gitanas Nauseda, who is seeking re-election for a second term, Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte and Dainius Zalimas, dean of the Faculty of Law of Vytautas Magnus University.
Their registration means that they meet the requirements for a candidate, have submitted the necessary documents, have paid the election deposit and have collected at least 20,000 signatures of voters supporting them.
Nauseda and Simonyte will run for president for the second time.
According to the law, the CEC must register all presidential candidates by April 11 and publish their names on its website on April 12.
Initially, there were a total of 15 contenders to run for president but some of them later change their minds and withdrew from the race after they failed to collect the necessary number of votes.
The CEC has yet to decide on the registration as candidates of ex-Defense Vice Minister Giedrimas Jeglinskas, Labor Party leader Andrius Mazuronis, Eduardas Vaitkus, a medical doctor, Ignas Vegele, a lawyer, and MP Remigijus Zemaitaitis, leader of the Nemuno Ausra (The Dawn of the Neman) party.
The presidential election will take place on May 12.
By Jūratė Skėrytė
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New Vilnius campaign will invite Brits, Germans to break stereotypes
VILNIUS, Apr 04, BNS – Vilnius is set to launch a new advertising campaign in the UK and Germany next week, worth around 0.5 million euros, and will invite people in the two countries to break stereotypes about the Lithuanian capital.
With this new campaign, entitled "Expectations vs Reality" and starting April 8, Vilnius will try to shake off the label of a "former Soviet country".
"60 percent of people in the UK and 40 percent of residents of Germany don't know Vilnius. (...) And of those who know it, 25 percent only know the name. (…) If you don't know what's so fascinating about the city, what can you do there?" Dovile Aleksandraviciene, head of Go Vilnius, said at the launch of the new campaign on Thursday.
A study carried out this year by the KOG Institute for Marketing and Communication Sciences found that only 8 percent of people in the UK and Germany know more than the name of Vilnius or have more than basic geographic knowledge. Most of them associate Vilnius with Eastern European stereotypes and poverty, Aleksandraviciene said.
"What does the UK associate Vilnius with? It's Russia – 10 percent, (...) we see the same in Germany as 17 percent think we are a post-Soviet country in a bad way," she added.
59 percent of Britons and 50 percent of Germans would like to come back to Vilnius again.
One of the highlights of the campaign is a video in which a British man sees an invitation to come to Vilnius in a newspaper and starts imagining all sorts of stereotypical images, such as a man urinating on the wall of a wooden house and turning around to say hello, or a mother and her child riding in a wagon with straw. Later, the British man is shown images of contemporary Vilnius.
Aleksandraviciene admits that such advertising is very bold, but added that earlier research proved its effectiveness as 53 percent of Germans and 49 percent of Britons saw it and started looking for more information about Vilnius, while 36 percent Germans and 49 percent of Britons wanted to learn more about the culture and history of Vilnius, and 27 percent and 30 percent wanted to make plans for a trip to the Lithuanian capital.
The new campaign will be funded by the city's tourist tax, the GO Vilnius head said.
Editor: Roma Pakėnienė
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NATO fund would ensure Ukraine aid independent of 'political winds' – Lithuanian president
VILNIUS, Apr 04, BNS – Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on Thursday welcomed an initiative to create a 100-billion-euro NATO fund for Ukraine, saying it would allow ensuring the Alliance's support to Kiyv independently of political processes.
Nauseda's comment came after NATO's top diplomats discussed a proposal for a 100-billion-euro, five-year fund for Ukraine at their meeting in Brussels on Wednesday.
"I welcome the idea itself. We do need a mechanism to make this support process objective, determined by certain criteria," Nauseda told journalists.
"This does not rule out the possibility of individual states contributing much more, but it first and foremost ensures the much-needed solidarity so that a collective agreement to continue supporting Ukraine is reached regardless of political winds and crosswinds," he said.
According to Nauseda, even if the NATO fund is approved, solutions will still need to be sought to provide macro-financial assistance to Ukraine.
"Individual countries will continue to try to help in various ways, both financially and through other means," he said.
The current proposal envisions NATO's 32 members contributing to the fund according to the size of their economy. However, some Western countries are skeptical about the initiative.
Deividas Matulionis, Lithuania's ambassador to NATO, told LRT Radio earlier on Thursday that the Alliance should aim for more than 100 billion euros in financing for Ukraine.
A meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council was held in Brussels on Thursday to discuss Ukraine's prospects for joining the Alliance. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba updated his NATO counterparts on Kyiv's most pressing defense needs.
At their summit in the Lithuanian capital last July, NATO leaders pledged to invite Ukraine to join the Alliance "when Allies agree and conditions are met".
Kyiv hopes to receive an invitation to join NATO during this year's summit in Washington, D.C., but is unlikely to get one.
By Vilmantas Venckūnas
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Ukrainian PM to visit Vilnius Friday
VILNIUS, Apr 04, BNS – Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal is expected to visit Lithuania on Friday and meet with President Gitanas Nauseda and Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte.
Simonyte and Shmyhal will discuss Ukraine's defense needs and Lithuania's military support to Kyiv, the expansion and implementation of sanctions against Russia and its ally Belarus, as well as issues of international accountability for the aggressors, the Lithuanian government's press office said in a press release on Thursday.
Other topics to be discussed include Ukraine's European and Euro-Atlantic integration agenda, and support for the war-ravaged country's energy sector and reconstruction.
The two prime ministers are expected to hold a joint news conference and visit the headquarters of Blue/Yellow, a non-governmental organization supporting Ukraine.
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Ukrainian PM to visit Vilnius Friday (expands)
(adds last 2 paras)
VILNIUS, Apr 04, BNS – Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal is expected to visit Lithuania on Friday and meet with President Gitanas Nauseda and Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte.
Simonyte and Shmyhal will discuss Ukraine's defense needs and Lithuania's military support to Kyiv, the expansion and implementation of sanctions against Russia and its ally Belarus, as well as issues of international accountability for the aggressors, the Lithuanian government's press office said in a press release on Thursday.
Other topics to be discussed include Ukraine's European and Euro-Atlantic integration agenda, and support for the war-ravaged country's energy sector and reconstruction.
The two prime ministers are expected to hold a joint news conference and visit the headquarters of Blue/Yellow, a non-governmental organization supporting Ukraine.
Shmyhal and Nauseda are scheduled to meet at noon to discuss Russia's aggression against Ukraine, the situation on the frontline, the need for military and financial assistance, Ukraine's EU integration process, reconstruction issues, and joint defense projects between the two countries, the president's office said.
Nauseda will present the Ukrainian prime minister with the Cross of the Commander of the Order of Grand Duke Gediminas of Lithuania.
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Upcoming events in Lithuania for Friday, April 5, 2024
VILNIUS, Apr 05, BNS – The following events are scheduled in Lithuania for Friday, April 5, 2024.
PRESIDENT Gitanas Nauseda to meet with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at noon.
THE SEIMAS to hold a tripartite meeting of Lithuanian, Polish and Ukrainian parliamentary delegations and representatives of farmers' organizations at 11 a.m.
PRIME MINISTER Ingrida Simonyte to meet with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at 9.50 a.m., followed by a joint pres conference at 11.20 a.m.; the two prime minister will visit the Blue/Yellow organization at 2.55 p.m.
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