Lietuva in brief - 2010-08-19

  • 2010-08-18

The Seimas Order and Justice political group intends to propose to exempt start-up businessmen and craftsmen living in rural areas from paying taxes, reports ELTA. “We need to ensure favorable conditions for everybody to work and compete successfully,” said Kestas Komskis. On Aug. 11, the most painful problems burdening the activities, development and competitiveness of small and medium business were discussed at a meeting of members of the Order and Justice political group and representatives of Small and Medium Businesses Association. According to Komskis, only small businessmen are able to generate more jobs, thus, raising the country’s economy and taking it out of the crisis. “Therefore, it is vital to search for ways to promote small and medium businesses. With the help of my colleagues, I am ready to pursue this goal over the next couple of years,” said the Seimas member.

Dive enthusiasts in Lithuania have opened the country’s first underwater picture gallery, saying the waters of a lake in the west of the Baltic state unveil the beauty of art like nowhere on land, reports AFP. Twenty large format photographs by local artists were put on display in lake Plateliai, in western Lithuania, on the weekend. “Art is experienced totally differently in the water,” Andrius Albrikas, head of local diving academy, told AFP. “Of course, this is not the Red Sea, but now you can’t complain there is nothing to be seen in local lakes,” he joked.