Honorary Consulate of Republic of Lithuania in Tanzania

Weekly News from Lithuania, December 11

POLITICS

Lithuania allocated humanitarian aid to Ukraine

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania allocated EUR 100,000 in humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The funds will be transferred to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

On 27 October, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) published a report stating that humanitarian aid was needed for 3.4 million people living in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the conflict, more than 3,000 people have been killed and 7,000 injured.

President Gitanas Nausėda initiates a series of events to tell more about the history of the secret protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact since its signing in 1939 until they were made public and condemned in December 1989 and encourage a debate on the importance of historical memory in strengthening Lithuania’s statehood.

“With attempts to manipulate and falsify history in neighboring countries, it is our duty to remember the events of the past as they were”, the President said.

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Hydrogen platform being developed in Lithuania to promote advanced energy technologies

The Ministry of Energy and 19 organisations, including the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, the Ministry of Transport and Communications, business associations and large energy companies, have signed an agreement on the establishment of a hydrogen platform in Lithuania. The signatories have agreed to cooperate in the creation and development of hydrogen technologies, which will be crucial for achieving national and European energy and climate targets.

On 9 December, the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius took part in a virtual ministerial roundtable on the safety of journalists. The event took place in the course of the 2 days of the World Press Freedom Conference 'Journalism without Fear or Favour', organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and UNESCO.

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BUSINESS & SCIENCE

Lithuania celebrates Nobel in Chemistry

A Lithuanian-native Prof V. Šikšnys is one of the most important pioneers in CRISPR-Cas9 technology, which enables geneticists and medical researchers to alter, remove, and add sections of the DNA sequence, in turn editing parts of the genome.

The discoveries in this field were awarded the Nobel Prize this year, and the professor contributed greatly to this global achievement by being the first to show that the CRISPR-Cas9 system could be transferred from one bacterium to another.

Thermo Fisher Scientific, the world leader in serving science, is expanding its presence in Lithuania by increasing its manufacturing capabilities of products for the life sciences market. The investment will enable increased production for a growing industry and create an additional 140 new jobs at the company’s site in Vilnius.

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Drones and satellites will be used to study plastic pollution in the Baltic Sea

Consumer trends and the closed nature of the Baltic Sea are making the problem of plastic pollution in water more and more acute. Drones and satellite information will be used to more effectively identify areas of concern on the Lithuanian and Latvian coasts. After analyzing it, scientists will present their proposals for innovative pollution management measures.

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Revolutionary Life Science Innovations are Born in Vilnius

Vilnius celebrates this year's Nobel Prize ceremony by honouring one of the most prominent Lithuanian pioneers in life sciences – Prof. Virginijus Šikšnys – whose contributions led to important discoveries in the Nobel Prize-worthy CRISPR-Cas9 technology.

Vilnius is funding a scholarship in the name of the scientist, and has commissioned a sculpture for the achievements made in the life sciences field. A DNA spiral by artist Eglė Žvirblytė will be standing in front of LSC as a tribute to Prof. Virginijus Šikšnys’ discovery and human evolution.

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CULTURE & HISTORY

The state of mind which embraces a belief and hope that one’s efforts will produce positive and desirable results is called optimism | Credits @ Lithuanian Culture Institute

Vilnius Moves Christmas to Balconies to Celebrate Holidays in Safe Way

In light of the extension of the second lockdown in Lithuania, Adas Vasiliauskas, the photographer and author of “Quarantine Portraits”, welcomes the artists and the residents of Vilnius city to let their imagination shine through the quarantine restrictions and make festivities especially safe by decorating an unexpected area of their home – their balconies.

The pandemic not only “quarantined” artists’ tours abroad, participation in international festivals and biennials but also indefinitely postponed the very preconditions for such activities to continue in the “post-Covid-19” world – it suspended the Visits programme that the Lithuanian Culture Institute has been successfully running for several years through which international cultural experts from various countries of the world travelled to Lithuania to get acquainted with its professional art scene and consequently invite artists for partnership and joint projects.

We all love looking for Lithuanian details in big Hollywood productions – and there are several to be found in Netflix's recent hit show The Queen's Gambit.

In the very last scene of episode seven, the protagonist, chess prodigy Beth Harmon, is walking in Moscow and comes across a group of ordinary people playing chess in a park. One of them recognises Beth and challenges her to a match before the end credits roll.

Tucked away in the east of the Baltic, there are many surprises to be discovered here.

A journey through Vilnius, Kaunas, Šiauliai and other cities reveals a country with breathtaking natural beauty and myriad stories. Its wooded towns and lake-fringed cities have a rich history, a thriving art scene, a native language that is closely related to Sanskrit, and even a hidden Tagore translation or two.

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December 18

Arab Culture Days 2020

On the international day of Arabic Language Arabic Culture Forum with partners invites to participate in an online discussion on Arabic Culture through architecture, sociology and theology.

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Highlight of the Week

Farewell to Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius

Vilnius
Photo credits @ URM / J. Azanovas

Dec 12 2020

POLITICS

Lithuania's Embassy in Armenia provided humanitarian aid to displaced people from Nagorno-Karabakh

On 30 November, the Lithuanian Embassy in Armenia provided humanitarian assistance to Armenians affected by the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, in cooperation with the Armenian Red Cross Society and local regional authorities.

Food items kits were handed over to displaced families to meet the immediate needs of those, who had temporarily arrived in Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh.

On 2 December, the Government has decided to issue Lithuanian national visas free of charge to regime-persecuted Belarusians. The proposal was brought forward by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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Acting Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius bids farewell to the EU Ambassadors, calls for maintaining focus on eastern neighbours

On 3 December, the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius took part in an online discussion with the Ambassadors of the European Union to Lithuania. Linkevičius noted that the EU should provide pro-active support to eastern neighbours that were seeking democratic change.

With Lithuania planning to build wind farms in the Baltic Sea, the government on Wednesday took steps to set up infrastructure for turbine production, assembly and storage operations in the port of Klaipeda.

BUSINESS & SCIENCE

Startup plans to reform Lithuanian healthcare system

A MedTech company is working on an application that is going to change the way people seek medical help. Fleming will enable people to contact doctors remotely on the same day. It will also contain personal medical information and create a possibility to monitor one’s health state with the help of artificial intelligence.

Demivolt, a recently established payment services provider, has just received an Electronic Money Institution license from the Bank of Lithuania. The fully passportable license will allow Demivolt to provide corporate clients across the EU with a range of services – from payment initiation to foreign exchange transactions and international money transfers.

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The iDenfy team has developed an Immunity Passport

Last December, Europe had no idea how an unknown virus would fundamentally shake the global health sector and national economies. When the first wave of the Corona virus hit Lithuania in March 2020, the innovators from Kaunas Science and Technology Park rushed to develop solutions that would help businesses. One of them is the electronic immunity passport created by the iDenfy team.

While in some countries, such as Sweden or Finland, green finance is often a priority when investing, consumers in the Baltic states are not as interested, according to a press release by FinTech hub Rockit.

"The Baltic consumer is very price-driven, as a result, one of the tasks of sustainable finance is to create incentives to move to more sustainable consumption and production patterns,” said Remy Salters, chief financial officer at Swedbank in Lithuania.

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CULTURE & HISTORY

Lighting up the main Christmas Tree in Vilnius | Credits @ Vilnius City Municipality

Researchers locate hideout of Lithuania's last anti-Soviet partisan

A bunker-hideout used by Antanas Kraujelis-Siaubūnas, Lithuania's last anti-Soviet partisan to die during fighting, has been located by the country's state-funded Genocide and Resistance Research Centre.

The bunker, built in 1960, was found at a homestead owned by Antanas Pinkevičius who was married to a sister of Kraujelis’ wife, according to the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania (LGGRTC).

This year, the Christmas season will be different: there will be no Christmas towns in the central city squares and some holiday habits, such as buying gifts or parties, will move to the virtual space. However, “Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022” team invites citizens to maintain festive spirit, because Christmas mood will come to the residents’ yards by Christmas bus.

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