Summed up

ENERGY BOOST: Lithuania's state-owned power utility Lietuvos Energia has received offers from three companies to export up to 4 billion kWh of electricity annually, newspaperLietuvos Rytas reported. The potential exporters are the Russian companies Asen an Energiya and the Lithuanian trade firm Giro. According to the report, Energiya offers to trade electricity for nuclear fuel. Lietuvos Energia seeks to boost the export of electricity, in a slump since the halt in loss-generating deliveries to Belarus last summer. A commission will choose companies for talks on starting exports April 1.

NARVA GETS A CHARGE: Narva Elektrivork, the regional power grid of Estonia's northeastern Ida-Virumaa region, started on March 27 to import electric energy from Lithuania under an agreement concluded with Lietuvos Energija. Ahti Puur, general director of the Narva grid, said that under the agreement the Narva grid will import an amount equal to one-fifth of its total sale of electricity. In March and April the Narva grid will import 20 million kilowatt-hours of electricity, while the amount to be bought between May and July will be decided later, based on consumption.

FINNAIR FLIES SOLO: Estonian Air discontinued regular flights between Tallinn and Helsinki March 26. Officials at the carrier's desk in Tallinn Airport said only Finnair will be flying from Tallinn to Helsinki after March 26. The decision to end the service was made by Estonian Air's sales department, they said. In January Estonian Air scrapped direct flights to Oslo, citing unsatisfactory market growth. The carrier is now operating a joint service with SAS on the route.

SPRING CLEANING: Operations at one division at the fish processing enterprise Juraslicis where seven leptospirosis cases were registered have been halted and consumer safety is not endangered, head of the state Veterinary Service's food products supervision department, Ernests Zavadskis said. A series of measures will be carried out at the division to provide for protection of employee health. The premises will be purified, fumigated, rodents will be eliminated, among other measures. Seven women employed at "Juraslicis" contracted leptospirosis last week. One of the seven women has died but the others are in stable condition.

BEET DEAL: The Danish company Danisco Sugar, the owner of large stakes in Lithuania's sugar industry, has signed an agreement with five cooperative societies of sugar beet growers on the purchase of the current-year sugar beet crop. Under the agreement, the refineries will pay 0.21 litas ($0.05) per kilometer for the transportation of up to 10 tons of sugar beet, and 0.27 litas for over 10 tons. The processors also pledged to buy up all sugar beet supplied under quotas within two months.

AVIATION DEBT DELAYED: The Lithuanian Civil Aviation Authority has secured a one-year extension of the deadline for the repayment of a debt to the Finance Ministry. Several years ago the ministry paid interest on a $12 million loan provided by the French bank Credit Lyonnais in 1992 for the upgrading of the navigation equipment at the airport of Vilnius. The authority is due to begin the repayment of the $1.874-million debt to the Finance Ministry early in 2001 and complete on Dec. 10 of the same year. Under an earlier arrangement, the debt was to be repaid in 2000 at a 9.15 percent annual interest rate. The authority's financial situation has worsened due to cuts in Vilnius-bound flights by the world's air companies. Despite this, the authority continues to pay the loan to the French bank without delay. It is due to repay the remaining $3 million by December 2001.

TO HELSINKI BY WHIRLYBIRD: Copter Action, a company planning to launch a fast passenger link with helicopters between Tallinn and Helsinki, said on March 23 the first helicopter ordered for the new line from the Sikorsky plant in the United States had arrived in Helsinki. The training of crews and mechanics has ended. On April 3 all people connected with the project will assume their duties, Copter Action Eesti OU said. A helicopter terminal on the flat roof of the sea wing of the Tallinna Linnahall concert arena near the Tallinn passenger port is scheduled to be ready at the end of April. The company said it will start regular traffic on the new line in late spring and has promised that its helicopters will cover the 85 km trip between the two capitals in 18 minutes. The helicopters will make 12 return flights each working day. Copter Action also said the existing aviation agreement between Estonia and Finland won't hinder the opening of the new line as the heads of the aviation authorities of the two countries have already initialed the text of a new accord.