Latvia’s President, Egils Levits, paid his last foreign visit to Lithuania, meeting with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, on 5 July 2023, LSM reports. Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics will take office as Latvia’s new president on 8 July 2023. Rinkevics will make his first official visit abroad as president to Estonia on 10 July 2023, ERR…
Estonian debt collection and credit management company Aktiva Finance Group will acquire Swedish credit management company Intrum Group’s business in the Baltic States for EUR 30mn, TVNET reports. Under the deal, Aktiva Finance Group will acquire 100% of shares in Intrum Group’s subsidiaries in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The transaction is expected to be closed…
Housing prices in the Baltic States rose the fastest in Lithuania in the first quarter of 2023, according to Eurostat data, BNS reports. Compared to a year earlier, housing prices rose by 13.1% in Lithuania, which was the second-highest increase in the EU. Housing prices in Estonia rose by 9.2% and in Latvia by 6%…
Lithuania’s President, Gitanas Nauseda, called for revising existing national sanctions laws to impose stricter entry restrictions on Belarusian citizens, LRT reports. Speaking in an interview with BNS, Nauseda cited concerns over the potential presence of mercenaries from Russia’s private military company, Wagner Group, in Belarus. Parliamentary speaker Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen argued that there was no need…
NATO has agreed on new regional defence plans for the Baltic States and Poland, but is still finalising the documents of the forthcoming summit in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, Lithuania’s Defence Minister, Arvydas Anusauskas, announced, BNS reports. He said that some countries are still trying to hold the documents until agreement is reached on completely…
Lithuania’s government has approved an Indo-Pacific strategy to strengthen relations with partner countries in the East Asia region, The Baltic Times reports. The Foreign Ministry said that strategy outlined Lithuania’s key interests and priority areas in the region, with a focus on enhancing the country’s security and economic prosperity. The document recognises the increasing strategic…
Europe said that the Baltic States were right about Russia, but is ignoring us again, Lithuania’s former president, Dalia Grybauskaite, said, LRT reports. Speaking at a conference on the war in Ukraine at Vilnius University, Grybauskaite noted that when Baltic politicians warned Western leaders after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014, they were ignored,…
NATO has sent more warships to the Baltic Sea ahead of the defence alliance’s Vilnius summit, Giedrius Premeneckas, commander of the Lithuanian Navy, announced, BNS reports. Premeneckas said that allied ships ensured air surveillance, maritime situation surveillance, and interoperability. The allied naval force includes German, Italian, Polish, and US ships. The NATO summit will take…
Lithuania’s state-owned railway company, Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (LTG), generated revenue of EUR 434.1mn in 2022, which was down 6.7% from EUR 465.1mn in 2021, LRT reports. The company’s annual net profit amounted to EUR 1.2mn, which was down almost 20 times from EUR 23.5mn a year earlier. LTG’s freight volume totalled 31mn tonnes in 2022, which…