Lietuva in brief - 2009-12-09

At a meeting with some of the Lithuanian schoolchildren of Belarus, President Dalia Grybauskaite urged them to “strive for knowledge and to remember that they are ambassadors of Lithuania,” reports ELTA. On Dec. 4, the Lithuanian Embassy in Minsk held a Christmas trip for the Lithuanian children living in Belarus taking them to Vilnius for the third year in a row. The children visited Vilnius and were introduced to its Christmas traditions. Grybauskaite met with students of the Lithuanian schools in Pelesa and Rymdziuny and urged them to uphold their nationality and the Lithuanian identity in Belarus. The president emphasized that it should be very important for a young Lithuanian living abroad to make active efforts to gain knowledge. “You can achieve successful results only by working better. Be brave to risk, do not fear dreaming,” said the head of state.

After the closure of the Ignalina nuclear power plant at the end of this month, Lithuania will be producing most of its required electricity itself, as this is considered safer than to fully depend on Russia for energy, said Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius, reports ELTA. “We want to reach a very clear balance, based on the principles of national security - how much energy to produce ourselves and how much to import,” said Kubilius. According to him, Russian electricity is cheaper than that produced in Elektrenai, however only as long as Russia sees that Lithuania can produce electricity itself will it continue to offer at competitive prices. “Our arguments are very simple - the price is lower as long as we can produce electricity ourselves. If we did not think about the future and depended on Russia only, the import price would increase as much as the monopolist importer would want it to increase,” said Kubilius.