Lithuania: Delegation of 11 MPs to visit Taiwan, meet new president

A delegation of 11 members of the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, will visit Taiwan on 20-27 January 2024, BNS reports. Freedom Party MP Vytautas Mitalas said that the Lithuanian delegation would be the first to meet with Taiwan’s newly elected president, William Lai. Mitalas noted that the visit would help bring Lithuania and Taiwan closer. Meanwhile,…

Read More

Latvia: Tallinn Airport CEO suggests Estonia buy airBaltic stake

The Estonian state should consider buying a stake in Latvia’s national air carrier, airBaltic, Riivo Tuvike, CEO of Tallinn Airport, suggested, ERR reports. He argued that this would push airBaltic towards expanding operations at Tallinn Airport, where it is the market leader. Tuvike pointed out that Estonia was a “peripheral country,” saying that state support…

Read More

Lithuania: Klaipedos Nafta changes name to KN Energies

Lithuania’s state-owned oil and gas terminal operator, Klaipedos Nafta, has changed its name to KN Energies, GlobeNewswire reports. The company will continue to use the KN brand, however. At the same time, Klaipedos Nafta’s subsidiary, SGD Logistika, changed its name to KN Global Terminals. KN Energies announced that it would focus on liquid and alternative…

Read More

Lithuania: Defence chief stresses need for tanks, drones

Lithuania needs all types of weapons for defence, including tanks and drones, defence chief General Valdemaras Rupsys stated, BNS reports. The Lithuanian Armed Forces (LGP) has to have the capability to counterattack and take over targets, he stressed. This will require mechanised and tank units, Rupsys explained. Earlier, Defence Minister Arvydas Anusauskas announced that Lithuania…

Read More

Lithuania: Foreign experts awarded Star of Lithuanian Diplomacy

Lithuania’s Foreign Minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, has awarded German foreign and security policy experts Jessica Berlin and Benjamin Tallis as well as Finnish anti-disinformation expert Pekka Kallioniemi with the Order of the Star of Lithuanian Diplomacy, ELTA reports. Berlin is founder of the strategic consulting company, CoStruct, while Tallis is analyst at the German Council on…

Read More

Lithuania: Foreign Ministry hosts annual Snow Meeting in Vilnius

Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry hosted the annual foreign and security policy conference, Snow Meeting, in Vilnius on 12 January 2024, Baltic News Network reported. The conference was attended by the foreign ministers of Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Sweden, as well as political leaders and security policy experts from several countries. The participants discussed support for Ukraine…

Read More

Lithuania: EP President collects 2023 Freedom Prize

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola has collected the 2023 Freedom Prize awarded by the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, to the European Parliament, LRT reports. The European Parliament declined to accept a cash prize of EUR 11,000. Radvile Morkunaite-Mikuleniene, deputy speaker of the Seimas, suggested allocating the money to investigators of Russian war crimes and crimes…

Read More

Baltic: Parliamentary committee chairs praise Taiwan elections

The chairmen of the foreign affairs committees of the Baltic parliaments, Estonia’s Marko Mihkelson, Latvia’s Rihards Kols, and Lithuania’s Zygimantas Pavilionis, praised Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections held on 13 January 2023, LSM reports. In a joint statement, they said that the elections demonstrated the strength of Taiwan’s “robust democratic system,” saying that the country…

Read More

Lithuania: President snubs Foreign Minister, says “nothing personal”

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said that there was “nothing personal” in his decision not to invite Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis to a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Presidential Palace on 10 January 2024, BNS reports. He said that the meeting focused on military aid and defence industry cooperation, and that Defence Minister…

Read More