POLITICS Lithuania and Germany enjoy special bonds President Dalia Grybauskaitė met with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany and discussed bilateral relations and cooperation in the EU and NATO. It is the first Steinmeier’s official visit to Lithuania after assuming office of the President. On the second day of the visit, Presidents Steinmeier and Grybauskaitė will visit German soldiers serving at the NATO forward presence battalion in Rukla. More Prime Minister thanks Egypt for counter-terrorism efforts Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis met with Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. “I am pleased to host this historic visit on the year of the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Lithuania and Egypt. Our aim is to continue the active development of the political and economic relations and the political dialogue between Egypt and the European Union”, said Saulius Skvernelis. More Speaker of the Seimas: solidarity of the Nordic and Baltic states is crucial for maintaining transatlantic unity On 21–23 August 2017, Viktoras Pranckietis, Speaker of the Seimas, had a working visit in Lillehammer, Norway, where he participated the Conference of Speakers of the Nordic–Baltic Parliaments (NB8). The Speakers of Parliaments discussed the challenges facing the region such as terrorism, energy and cyber security, and fight against propaganda. At the discussion on the Eastern Partnership countries, Viktoras Pranckietis presented the situation in Ukraine. More Lithuania welcomes growing U.S. support for Ukraine On 22 August in Vilnius, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius met with the United States Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations, Ambassador Kurt Volker, who attends a conference on regional leadership at Vilnius University. The conference is hosted by the President Valdas Adamkus. More ECONOMY Klaipeda remains Baltics' No 1 container port Klaipeda remained the number one seaport in the Baltic countries in terms of container handling in January through July 2017, the port's authority said, cites LETA/BNS. More Optimistic outlook for ferry shipping in Lithuania The Gardenia Seaways, a large ro-ro freight vessel of Klaipeda-registered DFDS Seaways, entered service between the Dutch port of Rotterdam and the British port of Imminghan in 2017, and as its sister ship, the Tulipa Seaways, is to be added to the route shortly, the daily Lietuvos Zinios reported on August 22nd. More Lithuanian exports to India expand by 2.1 times in 1H 2017, further driven by the sales of matar, flax and wood Agricultural products have become the key driving force behind the robust growth of Lithuania’s exports to India, the national statistics agency, Statistics Lithuania, reports. As per the agency’s data, in the first half of 2017, Lithuania’s main export commodities to India were matar(pea, 57.4%), plastics and articles thereof (8.5%), flax (5.3%), wood and articles of wood (4.9%), wadding, felt and nonwovens (4.2%). More CULTURE, TOURISM AND SOCIETY: The third session of European Social Documentary to be held in Vilnius For the first time a session of ESoDoc – European Social Documentary – organised by ZeLIG School for Documentary and supported by EU‘s Creative Europe Programme – will take place in Vilnius on October 15-21, 2017. ESoDoc – European Social Documentary is the training initiative for media professionals and “cross-thinkers” who want to increase impact and outreach of their documentary films and cross-media projects by developing new storytelling skills, networking over different platforms, discovering new forms of team building, producing, financing and new distribution strategies. More Lithuania: A Land where the Head is Held High 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. More Photo by K. Sinha Information based on MFA