The number of nights spent by foreign visitors in the three Baltic capitals was highest in Tallinn in the first half of 2024, according to data from the Latvian Hotel and Restaurant Association (LVRA), BNS reports. Foreigners spent 1.075 million nights at accommodation establishments in Tallinn, followed by Riga with 851,000 and Vilnius with 699,000….
Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry summoned a representative of the Russian embassy in Lithuania to protest Russia’s intensified shelling of civilian targets in Ukraine, BNS reports. Russia’s bombing of educational buildings, hospitals, and civilian homes showed its complete disregard for human life and rules of war, the Foreign Ministry stated. The ministry pointed out that both the…
Lithuania plans to allocate more than 3% of its GDP to defence, President Gitanas Nauseda announced, BNS reports. Speaking during a joint press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw, Nauseda said that Lithuania would follow Poland’s example of raising defence spending. Also, he said that the two countries would soon begin training Ukrainian…
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, chairman of the ruling Homeland Union (TS-LKD), called on President Gitanas Nauseda to set up a “cordon sanitaire” to prevent radical political forces from coming to power after the parliamentary elections in October 2024, BNS reports. Speaking in an interview with Ziniu Radijas, Landsbergis warned that pandering to radical political…
Swedish telecommunications group Telia Company plans to lay off 400 people in Lithuania, BNS reports. The company intends to lay off 200 employees at telecommunications operator Telia Lietuva and another 200 at its Vilnius-based competence centre, Telia Global Services Lithuania. The group will decentralise most of its operations, with decision-making moved to each country, as…
Latvia’s national air carrier, airBaltic, will open flights to several new destinations from the three Baltic capitals in summer 2025, including five from Tallinn, four from Riga, and seven from Vilnius, LRT reports. The company will offer flights from Tallinn to Tirana in Albania, to Hamburg in Germany, to Reykjavik in Iceland, and to Barcelona…
Sanctions have left Belarusians unable to claim imported cars at Lithuania’s Klaipeda State Seaport, LRT reports, citing local daily Vakaru Ekspresas. Belarusian media claimed that almost 4,000 cars bought by Belarusians from the US were stuck at the port. Vaidotas Sileika, chairman of the Association of Lithuanian Stevedoring Companies (LJKKA), confirmed that the information could…
Estonia was the world’s largest exporter of prefabricated wooden houses in 2023, ELTA reports, citing Lithuanian business news portal Verslo Zinios. Estonia had a global market share of 21.5%, followed by Lithuania with 9.3% and Poland with 8%. Estonia’s exports of wooden buildings totalled EUR 390mn in 2023. Lithuania came in second with EUR 164mn, which…
The victory of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in regional elections was part of a European trend, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said, BNS reports. He attributed AfD’s success to the coronavirus pandemic, the war in Ukraine, inflation, Russian disinformation, and other factors, and “maybe sometimes a lack of strategic leadership.” Landsbergis noted…
