POLITICS

Lithuanian PM hails progress in relations with Poland

Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis says that Vilnius and Warsaw are gradually moving to a new stage of better relations and hopes that Lithuanian politicians will solve the highly contentious issue of the spelling of Polish names in Lithuanian personal documents. More

Speaker of the Seimas: Baltic States need solidarity to deal with energy and nuclear safety issues in the region

Viktoras Pranckietis, Speaker of the Seimas, met with Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia. The meeting of the Speakers took place in Jūrmala, Latvia, on the eve of the meeting of the three Baltic Prime Ministers in Inčukalns, Latvia, and Pärnu, Estonia, in the run-up to the NB8 Conference of the Speakers in Lillehammer, Norway. More

Lithuania and Italy US funds – for modernisation and reconstruction of Lithuanian military infrastructure and training groundsthe same approach to security and collective defence

The modernisation and reconstruction of military infrastructure in training grounds of Pabradė and Gaižiūnai of the Lithuanian Armed Forces (LAF), in the Mumaičiai military territory, and in the Air Base of the Lithuanian Air Force in Šiauliai is gaining momentum. According to plans, about 50 objects of various infrastructure are to be installed in 2017. More

ECONOMY

Vilnius Airport has reopened following the scheduled 35-day runway reconstruction period.

As a result of the reconstruction work, which took place from 14 July to 17 August, the majority of flights to Vilnius were redirected to Kaunas Airport, located an hour away from Lithuania’s capital. Kaunas Airport welcomed over 370,000 passengers and around 3,500 flights during this period. More

Lithuania’s rail development, a priority and a necessity

Lithuania currently operates 1,767 km of railway network and its modernisation and upgrade are essential for the increase of the transport performance and the intergration within the European railway system. This is because Lithuania’s railway system has a unique characteristic of interconnection: two gauges into one railway network – 1435 and 1520 mm. More

Lithuania best in EU and 9th globally for greenfield FDI

Lithuania has been ranked top in the EU in the Greenfield FDI Performance Index compiled by fDi Intelligence, a division of the Financial Times. The Baltic country came in 9th globally, and ranked 3rd in the Emerging Europe section, for attracting greenfield FDI. The index measures the attractiveness of countries as destinations for greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI) relative to the size of their GDP. More

Thermo Fisher Scientific Baltics awarded “Nobel Prize” for business

Thermo Fisher Scientific Baltics, a Vilnius-based developer and producer of molecular biology products, has been awarded the Shingo Prize for operational excellence for its accomplishments in the area of lean management. The prize, which has been dubbed a “Nobel Prize” for manufacturing businesses, is granted by the Shingo Institute, part of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. As a winner of the prize, Thermo Fisher Scientific Baltics, which is a division of Thermo Fisher Scientific – the largest company in the world offering products and services to science – joins the likes of Boeing, General Electric, Daimler, Johnson & Johnson, Goodyear and Verizon. More

Lithuanian producers get opportunity to export organic products to China

Lithuanian producers will be able to export organic products to China if they are certified as meeting the Asian country's standards. Lithuania's organic farming certification body Ekoagros said that it has signed a cooperation agreement with the China Organic Food Certification Center on organic product certification according to the Chinese national standard. More

CULTURE, TOURISM AND SOCIETY:

‘Sanskrit binds us together’

Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania Laimonas Talat-Kelpša studied International Relations and Political Science at the University of Vilnius. Before being posted in India, he was Ambassador-at-large, Latin America, Asia, Africa and Pacific Department in his country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he held several other posts for eight years. In 2011- 2012, he worked as Adviser to the Prime Minister of Lithuania. He is proficient in seven languages including Russian, Norwegian, French, and Polish. In this interview with Sarah Berry, he hopes that India will ‘rediscover’ the Baltic region. More

Užupis – The other side of the river

Užupis, which means “the other side of the river” in Lithuanian, is surrounded by the Vilnelė River and is a peaceful haven. During the Communist Era, Užupis district was rather neglected and suffered from a lack of utilities. It was a ghetto of sorts--a place where people who didn't fit in the system would often find themselves. However, in the wake of independence, as locals pressed for better conditions in the district, the Republic of Užupis was born. More

Information based on MFA