OFF THE WIRE

SELL-OFF: The Lithuanian State Property Fund will start selling shares in 22 state-run companies through the country's stock exchange in July. Between July 3 and Aug. 14, investors will be offered shares in the building company Lithun, chemical producer Vilniaus Chemija, the paper packaging firm Grafobal Vilnius, Energijos Apskaitos Sistemos (Energy Accounting Systems), food retailer Vilniaus Prekyba, glass factory Aleksotas, construction company Gargzdu Statyba, corrugated board maker Klaipedos Kartonas and the grain processors Kretingos Grudai and Taurages Grudai among others, a State Property Fund spokeswoman told BNS. The total number of state- and municipality-owned entities to be put up for privatization as of July will reach 248. (The Baltic News Service)

INCHING BACK: The economies of the euro zone and the European Union, excluding Belgium and Spain, grew by 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent in the first quarter compared with figures for the previous quarter, according to Eurostat, the EU's statistics branch. Eurostat said last week that its gross domestic product figures did not reflect input from Spain and Belgium, which was only received May 29. The highest growth in the first- quarter of 2002 from the last quarter of 2001 was in the construction sector, rising 0.8 percent in the euro zone and 1 percent in the EU. That was followed by financial services and business activities, up 0.7 percent and 0.5 percent respectively, said Eurostat. By comparison, the U.S. economy recorded a GDP increase of 1.5 percent for the first-quarter of 2002 over the first-quarter of 2001, and an increase of 1.4 percent from the forth quarter of 2001. (Agence France Presse)

FRIENDLIER SKIES: Lithuania, in an attempt to contribute to international security, has decided to join the treaty on open skies which regulates air control procedures and is seen as an important instrument of international arms control, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said May 31. Rimantas Sidlauskas, Lithuania's ambassador in Canada, handed Lithuania's request to join the treaty to Canada's foreign relations and trade department, the statement added. "Being a part of the treaty Lithuania will contribute to increasing transparency, confidence and stability in its relations with neighboring countries in the military area,", the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Canada is the depository of the treaty, signed in 1992 by 16 NATO countries and 11 states from Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. It came into force on January 1, 2002, and countries can join until July 1. (AFP)

NEW LINE: Latvia's state-owned railway company Latvijas Dzelzcels in cooperation with railways in Belarus, Estonia and Lithuania launched a new railway route that connects Minsk, Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn. The line will open later this month, according to a company spokeswoman. Biruta Sakse said the route restored a line that operated during the Soviet era. It will be the only train route to connect the three Baltic capitals with the same train. Prices and timetables were not yet available, she said. "It is difficult to predict at this point if the new railway route will be a rival to buses because all will depend on travel fare and the time spent on the route," said Sakse. The train is expected to run twice a week, departing from Minsk on Mondays and Fridays and back from Tallinn on Tuesdays and Saturdays.(BNS)

OFFICE SPACE: The Vilnius city government has signed a $20 million deal with the Swedish group Skanska for the construction of a new city office complex. The contract between the Vilnius government and Skanska Statyba, a local subsidiary of the Swedish construction and project development company, was signed June 3 in Vilnius. The project provides for construction of a complex on the right bank of the Neris River, including a 20-story building and two smaller premises with a total space of 14,900 square meters. The project is to be concluded by the beginning of 2004. The city plans to sell its current premises to finance the project. Vilnius Mayor Arturas Zuokas said at a briefing that the new municipality offices also were aimed at attracting about 300 million litas ($5.1 million) of private investment into the area. A new business center, shopping center and apartment buildings were also planned to be built in the area. (AFP)

OUTPUT UP: Lithuanian industrial production grew by 11.7 percent in April compared with the same month one year ago, the Lithuanian Department of Statistics announced on May 29. April output amounted to 2.06 billion litas ($559 million), a decline of 10.6 percent from March. In the January-April period industrial output totaled 8.11 billion litas, a 4 percent increase from the same period a year ago. (AFP)

THE EU'S TAB: Finance Ministry experts from eight European Union candidate countries will meet in Tallinn on June 7 to discuss the impact of the EU financial package on the countries' finances. The meeting will include experts from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, an Estonian Finance Ministry official said. They will discuss the financial obligations of EU enlargement made public by the European Commission on January 30, which lay out the suggested payments by new members to the EU budget as well as payments from the budget to new members.(BNS)

OIL TRANSPORT DOWN: Latvia's Ventspils Nafta oil terminal handled 8.3 million tons of oil and oil products in the first five months of this year, a 16.2 percent drop compared with the same period last year, the company reported. The amount includes 1.1 million tons of crude oil and oil products handled in May alone, which is only half the amount handled in the same month last year. The company reported that the five-month indicators have confirmed previous forecasts of reduced operations following the launching of the Primorsk oil terminal in Russia and the renewed operations of the Butinge terminal in Lithuania.(BNS)