Lietuva in brief - 2010-04-07

Joint Life Sciences Center is to be established providing facilities where scientists will explore the human genome, search for new ways of diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other serious diseases, develop the application of biotechnologies in environment protection, industrial processes and other fields, reports ELTA. On April 2, at the Central Building of Vilnius University, Minister of Science and Education Gintaras Steponavicius, Vilnius University Rector Professor Benediktas Juodka and Central Project Management Agency Deputy Director Mindaugas Keizeris met to sign the agreement ‘Establishment of Joint Life Sciences Center.’ Joint Life Sciences Center is being established by Vilnius University and its partners: Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, the Institutes of Biotechnology, Biochemistry and Institute of Oncology of Vilnius University. The total cost of the project stands at 125.4 million litas (36.3 million euros), out of which 106 million litas will be allocated from the EU funds, with the rest coming from state funds.

From March 26 to April 1, a large number of Lithuanian residents attended the labor exchanges in the country, reports ELTA. According to labor market analysts, more people registered with labor exchanges not because they recently lost their jobs, but because of the wide amount of information available on compulsory health insurance. The news prompted the long-term unemployed to move to take advantage of guarantees provided by the state to jobseekers who are registered with the labor exchange. During this week, labor exchanges helped 2,608 people find employment, an average of 522 unemployed people per day, compared to 492 people per day the week before. Employers during this time registered 1,630 vacancies. Regional labor exchanges registered 3,603 jobseekers, an increase of 41.4 percent as compared with the week before. Only a quarter of the registered unemployed lost their jobs over the past six months. On April 1, the unemployment rate stood at 14.2 percent in Lithuania.