Lithuania should identify itself as Northern European and show economic potential in an attractive light, experts from 'Saffron Brand Consultants' said. They have been commissioned to create the strategy for Lithuania's economic image for years 2009-2014. "A time has come for all Baltic countries to form their unique identity and regional associations," Olins' main assistant Jeremy Hildreth said. The Lithuanian government representatives agreed, saying Lithuania's image is closer to Northern rather than Eastern Europe. Director of the Communications Department under the Government Laurynas Bucalis said the Nordic region is an attractive alternative, and will help the world associate Lithuania with stable, progressive, socially responsible countries, but admits the assessments made by the experts as primary and intuitive.
President Valdas Adamkus celebrated his 82nd birthday on Nov. 3. Adamkus was born in Kaunas in 1926 and is now among the oldest presidents in the world.
The Lithuanian Court of Appeals has ruled that the district court of Kaunas must reconsider the appeal lodged by Independence Act signatory Liudvikas Simutis against Russia for the compensation of damages done to himself and his father, who was tortured to the death in Rainiai. Simutis is attempting to prove that Russia must be held liable for his father's deportation to Mordovia, for 25 years of property confiscation and for disablement for five years. Simutis aims to get compensation of 400,000 euros from Russia awarded in his favor.
The country's new ruling coalition has begun discussions on the new government's program. Coalition partners plan to draw up two documents 's one intended for the coming period outlining which problems the government needs to address first, while the second document will be an assemblage of all the issues the government plans to address during its four year term, the head of the coalition and candidate for the prime minister's post Andrius Kubilius has stated. Under the Government Law, the appointed prime minister must present the government program for consideration to the Seimas (Lithuanian parliament) within 15 days of the president's approval of the composition of the new government. The program must be met with approval by a majority vote in the Seimas in order for the new government to commence activity. After Seimas approves the program, the government will have three months to prepare the specific measures to implement the agenda.
Adamkus has asked the Minister of Transport and Communications, Algirdas Butkevicius, to fix the management at Vilnius International Airport (VIA) where infrastructure and development is lagging behind regional competitors. He told Butkevicius to assess the situation and to look for ways to combine the private initiative and advanced management methods and to develop transparent partnerships. "This infrastructural object of importance not only to Lithuania, but also to the entire Baltic region is increasingly losing the battle of competition for passengers to Latvian and Estonian airports despite the fact that Lithuania is ahead of in terms of volumes of common economic activities and the number of population," a press release from the president's office said.
