Honorary Consulate of Republic of Lithuania in Tanzania

Weekly News from Lithuania, September 11

POLITICS

L. Linkevičius: I hope that the relationship between Lithuania and the United Kingdom will become even stronger in the future

On 10 September in London, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius met with Dominic Raab, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom.

In the meeting, the Foreign Minister Linkevičius and the UK's Secretary of State Raab discussed bilateral relations between Lithuania and the UK, situations in Belarus and Russia, the security situation in the region, as well as further cooperation between the European Union and the UK, and other relevant issues of international policy.

French President Emmanuel Macron plans to visit Lithuania on September 28–29, well-informed sources told BNS.

France has deployed several hundred troops to the German-led multinational NATO battalion in Lithuania, and has also taken part in the NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission.

Meanwhile, Lithuania has sent additional troops to Mali in response to France's request.

Diplomats from Lithuania and other EU member states have on Wednesday arrived at the apartment of Belarusian Nobel Literature Prize laureate Svetlana Alexievich.

"We have received [information] that unknown people are ringing the bell of her apartment [who are] probably the security or police representatives,” Lithuanian Ambassador to Belarus Andrius Pulokas told BNS

President Gitanas Nausėda met with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, who arrived for a working visit to Lithuania, to discuss bilateral and multilateral cooperation, the Nordic-Baltic agenda, border management, regional security, and transatlantic links.

The President thanked Norway for its active commitment to security in the Baltic States through the deployment of troops to NATO’s enhanced forward presence and assistance for Lithuania’s military modernization projects. The two leaders agreed that NATO had to continue its ambitious agenda and focus on the essential tasks of collective defense.

Read more

BUSINESS & SCIENCE

Embracing Digital Democracy - GovTech Week | Credits @ GovTechLab Lithuania

Yara chooses Vilnius as a Busines Intelligence hub

Internal demand for business intelligence (BI) to analyze the data we collect is increasing at such a pace that Yara is fast-tracking the growth of its global BI team – in Vilnius.

People all over Yara are waking up to the value of data analytics provided by self-service BI platforms and tools such as Power BI, Alteryx, etc. The aim is to give Yara’s BI users more responsibility for their data and the freedom to gather insight faster. With the help of self-service BI tools, business users are able to develop reports and dashboards without having in-depth technical BI knowledge.

Baltic region, has completed the acquisition of a stake in MBL Group (“MBL” or “the Company”), a leading European manufacturer of medical mobility devices, headquartered in Denmark.

Prior to the completion of this transaction, MBL was 70% owned by the Lauritsen family, who founded the company in 1988, with the remaining 30% ownership held by Accession Mezzanine Capital III, a fund advised by Mezzanine Management. As a result of this deal, the Fund has indirectly acquired 48% of MBL while the remaining 52% will continue to be owned by the Lauritsen family.

Read more

Lithuanian Laser Industry Leaders Participate in CIOE

The laser industry, or optoelectronics, in Lithuania is a curious and inspiring case of success. While we rarely get up close with lasers in our everyday life (or don’t realize we do), they are still an essential part of medicine and technological innovation.

Light Conversion is one of the well-established players in the field, founded in 1994. The company focuses on femtosecond lasers, their systems, and optical parametric amplifiers. Light Conversion exports products to over 40 countries in the world.

Nikola Motors – not only demonstrate the great belief in global markets in the power of innovation, but also testify to fundamental changes in the automotive industry, driven by increasing environmental protection requirements. Thus, there is no doubt that this decade will bring not only challenges, but it will also be a period of opportunities for new businesses serving the automotive and related industries, which are already successfully developing and growing in Lithuania.

Read more

The €2 commemorative coin dedicated to Aukštaitija, or the so-called Highlands – Lithuania’s largest ethnographic region and cradle of its statehood.
| Credits @ Lietuvos bankas

CULTURE & HISTORY

Dr Tsemakh Shabad: A Symbol of the Vilnius Jewish Community

In the Old Town of Vilnius, on the corner of Rūdininkai Square, stands a gentleman in a straw hat with pleasant-looking eyes. This is Dr Tsemakh Shabad, a kind-hearted physician, who cared for even the poorest patients and their pets. He was a famous early 20th-century public figure, and the person who introduced hygiene to Vilnius.

There was already a modern Jewish hospital in Vilnius in the late 19th and early 20th century when Dr Shabad began his work. It had pediatric and gynaecological departments, a maternity ward, an operating theatre, and departments for infectious diseases, gastroenterology, diseases of the eye, and psychiatry.

The works of all finalists of the Kaunas Photo festival’s competition are displayed at four outdoor venues and six indoor venues.

For the past few years, every September, the guests and residents of Kaunas are surrounded by photography – the annual festival Kaunas Photo invites everyone to experience this form of art in both indoor and outdoor venues, many of which are located outside the cultural bubble of Kaunas downtown. You can plan as much as a full day of exhibitions – there are ten of them for you to visit!

‘All hail the Governor of the State’, the press saluted the Constituent Seimas, which convened to its first solemn sitting on 15 May 1920. This salutation serves as the title of the exhibition dedicated to the centenary of the Constituent Seimas, which can be viewed in Vilnius and Kaunas. The exhibition, arranged by the Historical Presidential Palace of the Republic of Lithuania and the Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis National Museum of Art, features major achievements by the Constituent Seimas, the forerunner of the modern Lithuanian Parliament, in restoring the State of Lithuania.

If you’re a fan of detective novels, get ready to binge watch Young Wallander, Netflix’s prequel to the best-selling novels by Henning Mankell. The six-episode series is set in contemporary Sweden, but … did you know that it was filmed entirely in Vilnius, Lithuania.

That’s right - the most crucial scenes were located and shot in the residential neighbourhood of Šeškinė, built in the late 1970s by the Soviet regime. So get ready to follow the beloved Swedish detective through the streets of Vilnius.

Read more

September 12

Fluxux festival

Will we climb to the Parodos Hill during the Fluxus Festival or will we cloak the costumes against each other virtually? Weare in a positive mood and we believe that the riotious and colorful phenomenon that marked the beginning of last autumn – climbing to the Parodos Hill in the evening with "fluxus" suits that cause surprise, laughter and smiles WILL BE!

Find out more

Highlight of the Week

Moment from commemoration event for the Battle of Orsha 1514

Vilnius
Photo credits @ Lithuanian Military

Sep 14 2020

POLITICS

Lithuanian Embassy provided support for recycling initiative in Armavir schools

On August 24, Evaldas Galvanauskas, representative of Lithuanian Embassy in Armenia, participated at the ceremony of installation of plastic and paper recycling bins in Armavir schools.

„Praiseworthy is the fact that students will receive both theoretical knowledge about recycling and will have an opportunity to recycle themselves. Such joint approach should effectively lead to better environmental awareness of the young generation“, said E. Galvanauskas.

On 31 August, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius had a telephone conversation with the Congressman Eliot L. Engel, Chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee to discuss situation in Belarus, Ukraine, as well as relations with Russia.

“It is important to help Lithuania’s neighbor emerge from this political crisis, to support civil society, and to protect peaceful protestors who demand change after the election fraud, providing them safety from the Minsk regime’s brutal repression,” said Lithuania’s Foreign Minister.

Read more

Small, cheap and deadly – sea mines can bring maritime traffic to a screeching halt. A former Commander of Standing NATO Mine Counter Measures Group Two - SNMCMG2 explains how NATO addresses this threat
| Credits @ Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE)

BUSINESS & SCIENCE

		Invest Lithuania 8:47 AM - Sep 3, 2020

? And the country with the world’s fastest public internet is… Lithuania!

According to research from internet communications provider, Ooma, public wifi in Lithuania offers average download speeds of more than 15 megabits per second – that’s almost twice as fast as the US!

Fast, reliable internet access is a must-have for business travellers and mobile workers in the information economy – and Lithuania once again shows it has what it takes!

? https://bit.ly/3jMrt5L I Digital Information World

Here Are the Countries With the Best (and Worst) Wi-Fi Access

France and Belgium have the highest ratio of people to public hotspots, with an average of under 3 people per hotpspot.

Comment

Unique integrated health monitoring system for stroke survivors patented in Lithuania

Group of biomedical engineers from biotech company Gruppo Fos Lithuania together with researchers at Kaunas University of Technology and Lithuanian University of Health Sciences have patented technology for advanced health monitoring of stroke survivors. It is the first solution in the world which monitors and analyses simultaneously a patient’s
health parameters from the affected part of the brain and those of the cardiovascular system.

There are more connections between art and technologies than might appear from the first sight. The most obvious one – art needs tools and equipment and technological innovation cannot happen without involving creativity and improvisation, thinks Nerijus Čepulis, philosopher, Associate Professor at KTU. What are other ways in which creativity and so-called soft skills are saving every one of us in the age of technologies?

In the past years, Vilnius Airport has renewed its apron lighting system, installed solar panels and added hybrid vehicles to its fleet. Those are just a few environmentally focused solutions being implemented at all Lithuanian Airports, where sustainability is a core value.

Some 10,000 people in Lithuania will receive training in using electronic communication technologies as part of a joint initiative between Google and the country's Economy Ministry.

Read more

		Lithuania. Real is beautiful 11:08 AM - Aug 28, 2020

Every step a friendly crackle of the twigs underneath your feet, every gust of wind a new scent. Every look – a new shade of Deep Forest Green.

Yes, that's Lithuania – discover its colours.

Discover the Deep Forest Green of Lithuania!

Ah, the Green of Lithuania. Deep Forest Green. Mysterious, shimmering, lush. Alive. There’s a lot to discover while exploring it. Care to try and guess what it is?

Comment

CULTURE & HISTORY

„Synaesthesis“. A. Trobollowitsch. Vilnius | Credits @ Lithuanian Culture Institute

Marzipan Smell in Kaunas Sea, or Fishing with R. Jankevičius

So the suntanning season is over, and you’ve been to all the museums in Kaunas. Nature seems tempting, but you should have a plan. What about a fishing trip?

Kaunas is a perfect location for fishermen of all styles and kinds; There are rivers, and there’s Kaunas Sea, and we have plenty of speciality shops that can provide you all the gear you want.

A restored 1964 classic “The Girl and the Echo” (lit. Paskutinė atostogų diena) by the Lithuanian director Arūnas Žebriūnas is opening across French cinemas today. This month, the film will be available to viewers in 24 French cities. This is the second Lithuanian classic film released in France. The classic story of a girl and dreamy summer holidays will screen in 16 cinemas in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Marseille, Grenoble, Toulousse and other cities.

Lithuanian design collection, curated by Audronė Drungilaitė, is going to be presented at the Virtual Design Destination by Adorno (12 – 20 September) – the place to discover thirteen curated country collections of collectible design during the London Design Festival, featuring over 200 exclusive pieces. The theme for this year’s first

Two new (well, old) walls have been designated for artists by the city municipality. Decorating one of them turned out to be a fantastic day-time festival for everyone

Living Walls is an ongoing project by Kaunas Municipality that aims to connect building owners with street artists – just like tinder, but for street art lovers! Some of the drawings end up on the apartment blocks, others on abandoned factories, yet others on garages and fences. However, such projects require a lot of planning, coordination, compromises.

Read more

September 4-6

Vilnius City Fiesta

Celebrate together with Vilnius at the biggest festival filled with music, good food, culture and a great atmosphere. Greet the autumn season with live concerts, exceptional shows, and a fair in the heart of the city, on Gediminas Avenue.

Find out more