Baltic NEWS in UK » Lithuania News http://www.balticnews.co.uk The Latest News from and around the Baltic Region brought to the UK to bring awareness and encourage International Business Development, Investment & Trade. Tue, 18 Nov 2014 09:29:42 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 RB Rail On Track To Roll http://www.balticnews.co.uk/rb-rail-on-track-to-roll/111772 http://www.balticnews.co.uk/rb-rail-on-track-to-roll/111772#comments Tue, 18 Nov 2014 09:29:42 +0000 Joanna - Baltic NEWS in UK http://www.balticnews.co.uk/?p=1772 baltics-map-balticRB Rail, the new joint rail system to be constructed and shared by Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, has been registered in Latvia. Talks and agreements taking place last month for Rail Baltic II are a further continuation of Baltic I – which includes a line from the Polish-Lithuanian border to a new intermodal terminal at Kaunas, presently under construction, is expected to be concluded in 2015. The overall cost for RB II is likely to be in the region of €3 billion Euros with Latvia’s Transport Ministry share being at approximately €1.95 billion.  The transport line is being viewed as an important bridge between Europe and the Baltic States and will no doubt contribute toward further economic development.

Latvia Transport Minister Anrijs Matiss said: “I want to emphasise that the greatest beneficiaries of this project will be the Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian citizens, who will be able to easily travel to any Baltic country and other destinations in Europe in the near future.”

Two representatives from each country of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania have been appointed to the board of RB Rail – Anti Moppel for Estonia is chairman of the board, Ugis Magonis representing Latvia and Dainius Budyrs Lithuania. They will oversee the design, construction and marketing of the new 728km long railway line which will enable trains to travel at speeds not exceeding 240km/h achieving travel times of Tallinn to the Lithuanian-Polish border of about 4 hours.

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Lithuania Highest Gas Prices In Europe http://www.balticnews.co.uk/lithuania-highest-gas-prices-in-europe/111699 http://www.balticnews.co.uk/lithuania-highest-gas-prices-in-europe/111699#comments Fri, 31 Jan 2014 15:13:10 +0000 Joanna - Baltic NEWS in UK http://www.balticnews.co.uk/?p=1699 lithuania mapIt was reported on Reuters that the Lithuanian government encouraged utility company Leituvos Dujos shareholders to seek arbitration against natural gas supplier Gazprom. Voting was held on Thursday to force Gazprom to reduce its prices. Lithuania currently pays some of the highest utility prices in Europe, much higher than paid by her nearest neighbours – Latvia and Estonia.

Gazprom is one of the world’s largest suppliers of natural gas and provides the gas needs of a quarter of Europe. The European Commission has been investigating the supply giant since 2012 for suspected the anti-completive practices of overcharging customers and blocking rival supply companies. The minister of energy stated that Gazprom’s supplying to Lietuvos Dujos at such inflated prices, higher than Latvia, Estonia and Germany were being charged, was harmful to Lithuania’s consumers, the economy and Leituvos Dujos as a company.

A previous case filed by the Lithuanian government against Gazprom before the international arbitration court in Stockholm, is demanding compensation of 5 billion Lithuanian litas ($2 billion) for previous pricing. The new arbitration initiative will hopefully speed up talks with Gazprom to finally achieve a discount. Gazprom stated that Leituvos Dujos agreed to pay prices based on a formula that is linked to oil pricing and that it would not change its pricing practices in Eastern Europe in spite of regulatory pressure. The current sale agreement is in place until the end of 2015. The Gazprom said in September it could reduce prices if Lithuania signed a “comprehensive agreement” and withdrew the existing claim from the Stockholm court. Lithuania plans to erect a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at end of 2014, and its top power utility Lietuvos Energija expects to start importing LNG in 2015.

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Baltic Fashion & Textile Riga 2014 http://www.balticnews.co.uk/baltic-fashion-textile-riga-2014/111691 http://www.balticnews.co.uk/baltic-fashion-textile-riga-2014/111691#comments Thu, 31 Oct 2013 08:46:06 +0000 Joanna - Baltic NEWS in UK http://www.balticnews.co.uk/?p=1691 BF&T RIGA logoSourced by BT 1

To promote the development of the Baltic textile industry and to expand it to the international markets, the International Exhibition Company BT 1, the organisers of the Lithuanian textile fair “Baltic Textile & Leather” and the textile industry associations of Latvia and Lithuania have reached an agreement that, as of 2014, there will be one competitive fashion and textile industry fair “Baltic Fashion & Textile” rotating between venues in Riga (spring) and Vilnius (autumn).

The 19th International Textile Industry Fair “Baltic Fashion & Textile RIGA 2014” will take place from 4‒6 April at the Kipsala International Exhibition Centre, Riga, offering a vast exhibition, fashion shows, conferences and business-to-business matchmaking and the International Competition for Young Fashion Designers “Habitus Baltija 2014”. The fair will bring together the most competitive manufacturers, distributors and designers offering an international communication and business platform for the fashion and textile professionals in the Baltic States, Scandinavia, Russia and the CIS.

One common fair for the Baltic countries opens up new opportunities to promote more ambitiously the Baltic fashion and textile products, creative potential, enhance product competitiveness and expand sales into new markets across the Baltic States, the EU, Scandinavia, Russia and the CIS.

“Baltic Fashion & Textile Riga 2014” will introduce the new season collections, supplies and equipment, home textiles, innovative textiles, technical textiles, fashion accessories, designer recycled clothing collections, as well as it will offer a daily programme of fashion shows of the latest spring / summer ready-to-wear collections.

An opportunity to share experiences, acquire new knowledge and contacts, the fair will offer international conference series covering the most current fashion and textile industry topics on 4 and 5 April.  This will be an important event for designers, stylists, textile professionals and top managers, academic staff and students, and everyone engaged in the fashion and textile industry.

The conference speakers will share their experience and the participants will have the opportunity to discuss the current industry news, e.g. the use of innovative and eco-friendly materials in clothing, starting a fashion business and the development opportunities in Europe, the quality and accessibility of fashion design programmes in Latvia and elsewhere in Europe.

The organisers offer to businesspeople, manufacturers, distributors and designers an exclusive platform to build up business contacts and new partnerships ‒ B2B Matchmaking Event that allows contact potential partners and schedule individual meeting programmes already before the fair and to meet in person, present products and services, discuss opportunities for further collaboration and get business contacts during the fair.

The 14th International Competition for Young Fashion Designers “Habitus Baltija 2014”, 5 April, will present unique fashion collections created by young designers from Latvia and more than a dozen other countries that will compete for the Grand Prix and a significant prize fund. “Habitus Baltija” is a fashion event included in the events programme of Riga ‒ European Capital of Culture 2014.

More information about the fair: www.balticfashiontextile.com

Registration for the fair is open! Please contact the “Baltic Fashion & Textile 2014” sales manager Ms Ilze Avota on the telephone: +371 67065037 or via e-mail: ilze.avota@bt1.lv

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Baltic Farmers Fire Up The Baltic Way http://www.balticnews.co.uk/baltic-farmers-fire-up-the-baltic-way/111625 http://www.balticnews.co.uk/baltic-farmers-fire-up-the-baltic-way/111625#comments Thu, 31 Jan 2013 11:22:11 +0000 Joanna - Baltic NEWS in UK http://www.balticnews.co.uk/?p=1625 In order to ensure fair and equal representation for the Baltic’s at the next upcoming European Council meeting at which will be decided the EU agricultural budget for 2014 to 2020, an event is being planned by farmers in the Baltic States to light some 400 fires along the access roads to Via Baltica road (E-67). The event is being called the Bonfire Baltic Way and will symbolise the unity of the Baltic States farming community. Starting at 16:30 on 5th February a meeting will be held at Dome Square,Riga of farmers and officials where speeches and musical performances will be given before the fires are lit at 17:00, and kept alight until 18:00. Similar simultaneous meetings are to be held in Salacgrīva, Saulkrasti, Ķekava, Iecava, Bauska, and on the border points with Estonia and Lithuania.

The event is reminiscing of the first Baltic Way, also known as the Baltic Chain, an extraordinary show of solidarity when some two million ordinary people of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania linked hands to form a human chain from Tallinn to Vilnius in 1989 covering over 600 kilometres. This peaceful protest was to mark the 50th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact which was created between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany and led to occupation of the Baltic States in 1940. This visually stunning event was designed to draw the world’s eyes to the desire for independence from the Soviet Union for each of the Baltic countries and the intense solidarity held among the these three nations.

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Baltic States Lead The Way On Unemployment Reduction http://www.balticnews.co.uk/baltic-states-lead-the-way-on-unemployment-reduction/111617 http://www.balticnews.co.uk/baltic-states-lead-the-way-on-unemployment-reduction/111617#comments Fri, 07 Dec 2012 11:30:11 +0000 Joanna - Baltic NEWS in UK http://www.balticnews.co.uk/?p=1617 Recent data released by Eurostat demonstrates that the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have recorded the greatest fall in unemployment rates of all the EU countries for 2012.

Eurostat is the statistical office of the European Union and by comparing figure from all the EU member states over a twelve year period has produced statistics and tables showing unemployment rises and falls within those states. As to be expected during the recent economic crisis all EU member states experienced rapid growth in unemployment. All countries then showed gradual growth in unemployment, a flattening out and eventual decline towards lessening unemployment, all of which takes time and increased commitment between governmental bodies and local industry.

Gratifyingly for the Baltic States figures gathered between September 2011 and 2012 show the biggest drop in all member states is reported to be in Estonia from 11.5% to 9.6%, closely followed by Lithuania from 14.2% to 12.4% and then Latvia from 15.7% to 14.2%..Greeceis shown to be one of the hardest hit with continual unemployment growth figures when their unemployment figures were compared from September 2011 at 18.4% climbing to 25.4% in September 2012.

It has been reported during the peak of the credit crunch crisis years that the whole of the European Union had much to gain from close inspection of the Baltic States and their untiring ability and willingness to belt tighten for the greater good of their economic future. Reports such as Eurostat validate the success of the Baltic States Governmental business policies.

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Ikea Lithuania http://www.balticnews.co.uk/ikea-lithuania/111566 http://www.balticnews.co.uk/ikea-lithuania/111566#comments Fri, 07 Sep 2012 10:58:28 +0000 Joanna - Baltic NEWS in UK http://www.balticnews.co.uk/?p=1566 Ikea, international retail furnishing giant, will open their first outlet in Lithuania’s capital city,Vilnius, in 2013. The move will provide an added economic boon to Lithuania not only in the form of jobs opportunities, as Ikea is seeking staffing solutions for many sectors – sales, marketing, consumer relations, logistics, communication and design, business coordination and IT – but also Ikea’s continued high investment in the Lithuanian forestry and furniture manufacturing industries. In 2005 Ikea created 40 jobs in Kaunas, Lithuania, by creating an administration centre to cater for its European operations, a project costing 1.28 million Euros, and in 2008 Ikea made a substantial investment in one of Lithuania’s largest furniture factories for the development of the Baltic Sea Region, at a total project cost of 72.4 million Euros.

Since 2011 annual scholarships for students from Russia and the Baltic Region have been supported by Ikea at the Swedish University of Agricultural Science in Alnarp, Sweden for the study of forestry and to promote sustainable forestry in countries that provide important wood sources for Ikea. As Ikea’s long term objective is to source all their wood from forests certified as responsibly managed, they have been a member of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) since 1993, an organisation which sets international standards for responsible forest management. Ikea’s input in Lithuanian forestry in this respect can only have beneficial repercussions and encourage further investment internationally.

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Danish Espersen to Expand Klaipeda Plant in Lithuania http://www.balticnews.co.uk/danish-espersen-to-expand-klaipeda-plant-in-lithuania/111530 http://www.balticnews.co.uk/danish-espersen-to-expand-klaipeda-plant-in-lithuania/111530#comments Thu, 21 Jun 2012 08:46:01 +0000 Simon - Baltic NEWS in UK http://www.balticnews.co.uk/?p=1530 The mother company of Espersen Lietuva fish processors, situated in Klaipeda, is Danish A. Espersen, which is one of the largest fish processors in the Nordics. It has recently been reported that it has plans to raise capacities in the Lithuanian branch by extending the existing building. This expansion could potentially raise capacity by 70%, and will be carried out in two phases – adding new production areas and raw material as well as new finished product storage areas.

The suggested way this expansion should take place is by building new premises around the existing ones. These new buildings will be built along the whole length of the existing ones, which are located in Klaipeda’s ‘Free Economic Zone’. When the expansion is completed, it is likely to create around 55 new jobs, which will be added to the 290 currently existing employees. This figure is up by 20 staff compared to last September, when the facility housed only 270 staff members.

At the moment, the plant’s daily processing capacity is around 40/20 tonnes of intake/output. After the first phase of expansion is completed, the figure should rise to 48/24 tonnes, and after the second phase, it could increase to as much as 68/34 tonnes a day.

In less than a year, Danish A. Espersen will be celebrating its 10th birthday – the anniversary of it’s opening, with a LTL 13 million investment and a mere 100 staff. This figure is a far cry from 2010, when it was reported that the company turned over a whopping LTL 65million!

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Lithuania Recognises Importance of CFOs http://www.balticnews.co.uk/lithuania-recognises-importance-of-cfos/111498 http://www.balticnews.co.uk/lithuania-recognises-importance-of-cfos/111498#comments Mon, 28 May 2012 14:55:11 +0000 Joanna - Baltic NEWS in UK http://www.balticnews.co.uk/?p=1498 For the forth year running Lithuania have shown recognition to their country’s top and best performing Chief Financial Officers (CFO) at ‘The Committee of CFO of the Year Awards’ held in Vilnius earlier this month. CFO of Lithuanian Post, Kestutis Jarzemskas, won the title of the CFO of the Year in the Public Sector and CFO of Birac factory producing aluminium oxide in Bosnia and Herzegovina was the winner of Impressive Start nomination, an award specifically nominated to CFOs who are in their first year of employment in that position.

The CFO Awards was originally started by Vida Ciuberkiene Kumpikiene to give recognition to outstanding finance managers within organisations and their input to the Lithuanian economy, to award the best who have an impact on increasing the significance of the role of finance in the public Sector.

The Criteria for achieving an award is based on; significant improvement or increase in effectiveness in finance function, personal input in achievement of strategic targets of organisation and enforcement of CFO role in public as well as in the organisation internally.

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Vytautas Magnus University Refreshes Lithuanian Heritage http://www.balticnews.co.uk/vytautas-magnus-university-refreshes-lithuanian-heritage/111395 http://www.balticnews.co.uk/vytautas-magnus-university-refreshes-lithuanian-heritage/111395#comments Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:56:33 +0000 Sergio - Baltic NEWS in UK http://www.balticnews.co.uk/?p=1395 16th to 28th July 2012 the Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) in Kaunas, Lithuania will be holding a course entitled ‘Refresh in Lithuania’.  The course is to be aimed at Lithuanians currently living in Lithuania or those who have moved abroad who wish to rediscover a connection to the traditions and heritage of their native country. ‘Refresh in Lithuania is for those who want to feel the pulse of life in Lithuania today, to travel, get to know the academic community of VMU and to find out together what it means to be a Lithuanian in the international community,‘ states the VMU press release regarding the new course.

Egidijus Aleksandravičius, director of the Lithuanian Emigration Institute and professor at VMU, first proposed the idea and subsequently the first course of its kind was held in July of 2010. Egidijus Aleksandravičius said of the course, “the way has been paved by many years of observation. Except for Ireland, other attempts by universities to take original courses of action were weak. VMU is the first one to create a course which meets the challenges of distant future and provides a significant common good.”

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Lithuanian Trade Sector Recovery Indication http://www.balticnews.co.uk/lithuanian-trade-sector-recovery-indication/111362 http://www.balticnews.co.uk/lithuanian-trade-sector-recovery-indication/111362#comments Sun, 29 Jan 2012 13:31:31 +0000 Joanna - Baltic NEWS in UK http://www.balticnews.co.uk/?p=1362 Retail trade figures have always been viewed as a good ‘on the ground’ indication of the country’s financial health, if people feel confident and comfortable they spend more. Recent figures have shown a much awaited recovery in Lithuania’s retail trade sector. In 2011 Lithuanian trade figures demonstrated a recovery of 8.8% compared with the numbers for 2010 and 2009. 2009 end of year final figures showed a contraction of 22% with less, but still below expectations of 7% in 2010.

The BBN reported this week that last year Lithuania’s total retail trade volume reached LTL 24.2bn. Monthly trade volumes started rising from the beginning of 2011, but the growth rates only went into double figures last August and stayed that way for the rest of the year. During the last three months growth rates averaged 12%. These high rates were mainly maintained by non-food retail where the trade volume rose by nearly 15% in 2011. At the same time, food retail volumes only managed to advance 2.5% during the year as the recovery in the same sector started much later, mid 2011.

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