Honorary Consulate of Republic of Lithuania in Tanzania

Weekly News from Lithuania, July 3

POLITICS

Lithuania commences the next Presidency of the Baltic Sea States Council

On July 1 Lithuania commences the next presidency for the Baltic Sea States Council taking it over from Denmark. During its presidency, Lithuania will focus on sustainable development, particularly in the areas of green economy, ecological and maritime tourism, civil protection, fight against human trafficking for labour exploitation, as well as prevention of violence against children.

The Seimas has adopted a package of investment and corporate tax laws, which offers a new instrument aimed at attracting large investments of local and foreign capital. The package of laws, also known as the ‘green corridor for investment’, provides for much faster and simpler establishment procedures for investors as well as incentives for municipalities hosting investors. It is a regional development-oriented initiative aimed at promoting investment across Lithuania.

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Lithuania provides humanitarian assistance to Syria and Sudan

On 30 June, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius attended the fourth Brussels Conference on “Supporting the future of Syria and the region”, which was co-chaired by the European Union and the United Nations. L. Linkevičius voiced his consistent support for Syria, activities of the UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir O. Pedersen, as well as stressed the need to support young people in the country and to ensure accountability for crimes committed in Syria.

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On 25 June, the Political Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairsof Lithuania Raimonda Murmokaitė took part in the virtual high-level Sudan Partnership Conference that was organized by Germany, the EuropeanUnion, and the United Nations. During the event, R. Murmokaitė announced Lithuania’s decision to allocate EUR 25, 000 in humanitarian aid to Sudan. The funds will be transferred to the United Nations World Food Programme.

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BUSINESS & SCIENCE

Expert teams create solutions for solving the water pollution problem in the Baltics and the world

The winners of the international pan-Baltic Clean Water Hackathon are two startups – Latvian startup PurOcean and a Lithuanian startup Ekodrena.

“Clean Water Hackathon” lasted for a record-long 12 days in which time the teams participated in 85 meetings with experts and partners. The event attracted a great number of international organisations from all three Baltic countries, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, and the UK.

With air travel gradually resuming in Europe, Lithuanian airports are planning to launch flights to some 70 destinations in July, including to Dubrovnik in Croatia and London Gatwick.

“A number of the airlines and flight destinations that we had before the quarantine are returning to our airports,” Tadas Vasiliauskas, a spokesman for Lietuvos Oro Uostai (Lithuanian Airports), said.

The awards recognise the success stories of the past year across numerous areas in fintech, including payments, lending & investing, KYC and analytics. The awards were selected by a jury composed of Lithuanian and international experts in financial services.

The business and educational organizations in Klaipeda are joining forces to develop the Lithuanian system of maritime innovation in the country. With this goal, the Lithuanian Maritime Cluster has been founded on June 30. The cluster has been founded with the goal of becoming a platform for the production of high added-value services and products, innovation, cooperation between the education and business sectors.

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CULTURE & HISTORY

Discover colours you never knew existed | Credits @ Lithuania. Real is beautiful

Lithuania thinks pink to attract tourists – šaltibarščiai at the centre of new campaign

Lithuania is seeking to lure tourists with its iconic cold beetroot soup, šaltibarščiai. In a new campaign, the country's tourism promotion agency aims to make ‘cold pink’ the colour of this summer.

Travelers landing at Vilnius Airport, for example, will find themselves following a trail of pink-coloured spots on the floor, culminating with an instagrammable 3-metre replica of the dish.

Photos by the 17-year-old photographer, Darvydas Kilmanas, reveal the nature of Lithuania in its mysterious, hazy beauty. Feeling completely at home when meandering the nearby woods, Kilmanas believes we are all just visitors here.

Based in a rural location near Vilnius, Kilmanas has always been curious about and loved nature. Having trekked every little path in the area, the teenager knows it like the back of his hand. And yet nature reveals something new to him every day.

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July 3-23

World Press Photo 2020 Expo Vilnius

Visit the World Press Photo Exhibition 2020 in Vilnius, Lithuania, showcasing the stories that matter with photography from the 63rd annual World Press Photo contest.

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July 6 - August 27

XVII International Festival of Chaim Frenkel Villa

International orchestra and classical music festival invites to enjoy performances on an open-air stage in front of the local historical villa in Šiauliai.

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Highlight of the Week

Hidden places on Lithuanian Seaside to explore

Palanga
Photo credits
@ Association "Klaipėdos regionas"

Jul 03 2020

A team of Lithuanian medical professionals arrived to Armenia to help the country's fight with COVID-19 | Credits @ Lithuanian MFA / Lithuanian Embassy in Armenia

POLITICS

Lithuania provides assistance for Palestine refugees

On 23 June, the Political Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Raimonda Murmokaitė took part in the Extraordinary Virtual Ministerial Pledging Conference on UNRWA hosted by the governments of Sweden and Jordan. The event in support of Palestine refugees and UNRWA was co-chaired by Sweden’s Minister for International Development Cooperation and the Foreign Minister of Jordan. The conference aimed to ensure that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) bridged the financial gap and received sufficient resources to continue delivering on its mandate.

The Government made the decisions necessary for offshore wind development – a wind farm with a capacity of up to 700 MW is planned to be constructed by 2030 in a Baltic Sea territory nearly 30 kilometres from the shore. Offshore wind, which is one of the most efficient and promising energy sources, will make it possible to increase local power generation from renewable sources.

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BUSINESS & SCIENCE

Invention by Lithuanians can influence beverage industry

Researchers at KTU Centre of Packing Innovations and Research, Lithuania have found a solution, which will help beverage makers to pour the liquid through a 120-micrometre filter from a bottle with solid walls. The invention, commissioned by MV GROUP Production, has already been patented. It will improve the quality of beverages and is suited for mass production.

According to the four groups of criteria for the assessment of countries, Lithuania has significantly improved its position in the field of economic development but has declined in the areas of business efficiency, public sector efficiencyand infrastructure assessment.

“Lithuania as a small economy has the ability to quickly reflect the real situation and is not as inert as other larger countries. Therefore, the results of this ranking quite accurately indicate the current competitive situation and the trends of our country are best reflected in the analysis of longer-term rating positions” says Vadimas Ivanovas,
Head of Research and Analysis Division at “Enterprise Lithuania”.

COVID-19 has made one thing inevitable: leisure venues are not going back to business as usual for the foreseeable future. Concepts such as social distancing and the 1.5-meter economy will redefine social interaction and, ultimately, shape many aspects of how people and venues behave in the future.

With the use of predictive analytics and Artificial Intelligence, Crowd Control introduces features such as a Reservation Tool for new and pre-sold Tickets & Season passes, Visitor Spread Management, Online Check-In, Crowd Prediction, Crowd Insights, and Contactless Payments to ensure safety and control by preventing overcrowding at all times.

What do you do when your houseplants become too much to manage?

A lot of the time we leave them to dry out, die and eventually they end up in the bin. In Kaunas, Lithuania, Aistė Virketė is one woman on a mission to give these unwanted and unloved plants a second chance - and help their owners while she’s at it.

It all started when Virketė was creating her photo studio. As a plant-lover, she wanted a green backdrop for her images, but buying them from the shops was incredibly expensive. Friends donated plants they no longer wanted but there were never enough, so she started looking elsewhere.

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CULTURE & HISTORY

Vladas Drupas is an aviation legend, who received applauds for his courage during the Holocaust of thousands of people in Israel. Having helped dozens of Jews, the resident of Kaunas Vladas Drupas by no means felt like a hero. Like all The Righteous Among the Nations, he chose not to stand aside
| Credits @ URM Lithuania / LRRT

Lithuania Erects Sculpture in Honor of JD Salinger

J.D. Salinger, the American writer best known for his 1951 novel “The Catcher in the Rye,” was honored with a sculpture featuring a rye field near the Lithuanian village where his ancestors lived.

The writer, whose book was popular among the post-World War II generation of college students in the United States but also was banned for decades there, joined other another figure with a statue there: singer Leonard Cohen, whose mother was born in Lithuania.

Autor and illustrator Monika Vaicenavičienė has been awarded the Premio Andersen 2020 prize in Italy for her book, What is a River?

The book, awarded in the non-fiction children’s literature category, was first released in Swedish and has now been translated into more than 10 languages including Lithuanian. The book will be published in English and Somali languages in the autumn.

While colonial-era statues are being torn down in the UK and Belgium, some Eastern European countries have already banished communist-era monuments to isolated parks, like Grūtas in Lithuania. Are there better ways to deal with canceled “heroes”, asks Deutsche Welle.

The fall of a monument is a historical act. There is something irreversible about it. It stands for a victory against the old order, the dawn of a new era. It's no wonder, then, that in the wake of the current anti-racism protests, slave owners and colonial masters of the past are being swept off their pedestals. Their glorified legacy, which has survived to this day in the form of racism, is finally being reevaluated.

Vilnius, Lithuania has come up with some creative ways to keep residents happy and healthy during the pandemic.

Vilnius, the capital city of Lithuania, sits a solid three hours away from any coast. But, that isn’t stopping city officials from bringing the seaside to its residents.

On June 23, officials turned Lukiškės Square, the largest square in the city, into an "Open Beach," complete with sand, wooden paths, sun loungers, a lifeguard tower, and changing booths. All this so residents of the city could experience the coastal life without having to travel during the pandemic.

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Lithuania makes their famous ‘pink soup’ available in 30 new versions | Credits @ Reuters

July 11-18

24th Thomas Mann Festival

July 11-18 will see Nida welcome summer visitors with the 24th Thomas Mann Festival, offering a series of events named after the great German writer and admirer of the Curonian Spit.

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