On 20th of June, the political Roadmap implementing the synchronisation of the Baltic States' electricity networks with the Continental European Network was signed. The specific action plan and necessary main projects up to 2025, when the Baltic States will join the safe and reliable energy system of Europe, were established.

At the European Council, President of the European Commission Jean Claude Juncker signed the political Roadmap together with Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of Lithuania, Jüri Ratas, Prime Minister of Estonia, Krišjānis Kariņš, Prime Minister of Latvia, and Mateuszas Morawieckis, Prime Minister of Poland.

 

On 25 June, the Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the United Nations, Ambassador Audra Plepytė was elected as Chair of the fifth Meeting of States parties to the Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. A. Plepytė is the first representative of the Eastern European Group to chair the meeting of the States Parties to the Convention after its entry into force in 2010.

On 26 June President Dalia Grybauskaitė met with EU member state ambassadors accredited to Lithuania. Taking part in the traditional annual meeting were also Norwegian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Georgian, and Moldovan ambassadors.

The President thanked them for dedicated ambassadorial work as well as for the consistent and continuous support extended by their countries to Lithuania’s interests at the international level, its national objectives within the European Union, and joint responses delivered to external hybrid threats. Dalia Grybauskaitė expressed special gratitude for their active participation in the nation-wide social campaign For A Safe Lithuania that she had initiated.

On 27 June, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius met with the highest-ranking officials and opposition representatives of Moldova. During his visit to Chișinău, L. Linkevičius discussed Moldova's political issues, the European reform agenda, and bilateral relations.

 

On June 24-27 Lithuanian laser manufacturers presented their latest technologies in the most important laser industry event “Laser World of Photonics 2019“ in Munich. The Lithuanian National stand covered an area of 313 square meters, and housed 18 Lithuanian laser companies.

 

At the beginning of June, the builder of the VIP terminal with a conference centre at Vilnius Airport became known – the state enterprise Lithuanian Airports signed a works contract with Eikos Statyba company which submitted the best offer. During the nearest 9 months, in the northern part of the airport, a modern, A+ energy class, two-floor building with an underground space designed by architects Vilniaus Architektūros Studija will rise up.

The design of the new VIP terminal with a conference centre involves rearrangement not only of the building, but also of parking lots, access roads and outdoor engineering networks, the perimeter fences, as well as installation of the new ones. The contract value is EUR 3.6 million.

Vilnius is thriving on innovative ideas. Find the most interesting ones in the Guide to Lithuanian innovations, a new publication by Agency for Science, Innovations and Technology (MITA).

"Innovations have been developed at different speeds and, at the moment, they have gained the fastest momentum. Various reasons led to this result. One of them is the increasing focus of the state on the Lithuanian innovators. It is expected that the ongoing Innovation Reform will encourage Lithuanians to create and develop innovation projects."

 

LBChain is the world’s first blockchain-based sandbox developed by a financial market regulator, the Bank of Lithuania. The platform was developed through a pre-commercial procurement and is now opening up to international start-ups as well as financial and FinTech companies to test their solutions on the LBChain. The project combines the creation of innovative blockchain-based solutions with supporting their application in the financial sector as well as improving the quality of regulatory requirements and attracting foreign direct investment.

Sincere congratulations to Zibuokle Martinaityte-Starkland, the winner of the Global Music Awards.

Žibuoklė Martinaitytė is a New York-based Lithuanian composer whose works explore the tensions and longings of identity and place. In her chamber and orchestral compositions, she creates sonic environments where musical gestures emerge and disappear within transparencies and densities of sound layers.

In the years since the Cold War, Lithuania has been looking outward. Now, a group of chefs and food producers in the capital of Vilnius are turning their attention back home — with delicious results.

For the first time in the history of the popular Les Arcs Film Festival, a valued meeting place for professionals of independent European cinema, four countries will be in the spotlight as part of the festival’s traditional Focus, usually reserved to just one territory.

Dedicated to The Baltic states (Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia) & Finland, this 11th edition (taking place from December 14 to 21) will thus showcase, in the sports resort of the Savoie, features and short films from this region of Europe that has grown more and more active in terms of production.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė delivered her tenth and final state of the nation address to the Lithuanian parliament. Here is her speech in full.

On 11 June, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius met with the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Oman Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamoud Al Busaidi.

The meeting discussed bilateral relations, the opportunity for the development of economic cooperation, the situation in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf region.

On June 12 Government approved that part of Pabradė and Gaižiūnai training areas and military training territories’ forests would be converted into other land. This will help ensure the diversity of Lithuanian and Allied military exercises and improve training conditions in the above-mentioned training areas.

Lithuania, is probably the most courageous and progressive of the Baltic states at the moment. With a young workforce and vibrant startup atmosphere the country is railing towards a fast modernisation and economic development.

AI-based platform Attention Insight, which analyses the aesthetics and design of a product, has received a three-part co-investment – Lithuanian Business Angel Network (LitBAN) and venture capital fund Koinvesticinis Fondas each invested EUR 50k, while venture capital fund Open Circle Capital financed the project with a further EUR 100k.

Attention Insight allows marketing managers and media channels to see the design of their product from the viewpoint of consumers. It analyses the aesthetics of a product, and highlights any, striking or missing design elements, and helps make rational decisions based on the analysis of the product. The platform is based on deep learning technology and eye tracking data.

As emphasised during the joint high-level seminar held by the Bank of Lithuania and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), financial technologies (fintech) have a vast potential to benefit consumers and boost economic growth, yet fintech development needs to be properly managed to ensure resilience to potential risks.

In 2017-2019, the Lithuanian film industry has experienced remarkable growth. As a result, Lithuanian animation and VR gained plenty of international attention. Recent world premieres took place at the Venice Film Festival, DOK Leipzig Film Festival and other festivals with some of the titles successfully competing at the main programs, informs Lithuanian film centre.

The manuscripts of the Vilna Gaon, an eighteenth-century Jewish thinker, have been put on Lithuania's national Memory of the World Register.

Next year we will be celebrating the Year of the Vilna Gaon and the History of the Jews of Lithuania.

Following the premiere of the HBO series Chernobyl and a reception from viewers that has been more rapturous than that experienced by the finale of Game of Thrones, Lithuania has a message for Chernobyl viewers.

Just one year following the catastrophe in Ukraine, a second reactor whose construction was similar to the one in Chernobyl, began operating in Lithuania’s nuclear power plant. This is why, when it came to finding a location for shooting some of the main scenes for Chernobyl, the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) was the natural choice. The film crew were able to enter the closed complex and even climb on top of the reactor, an experience which can also be enjoyed by tourists to the site.

 

 

On 6 June the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania presented the exhibition - "One of Seven. Lithuania. Lite. Lita" at the South African Jewish Museum in Cape Town.

The artistic installation, portraying the details of the Jewish nation's history from the times of Grand Duchy of Lithuania up to today's Republic Lithuania, arrived to the country’s second largest city from the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Center, where it has been exhibited since the grand opening on 9 April.