"This will also open up the possibility for companies of an exceptional nature, which create fewer jobs but focus on highly skilled professionals and plan large investments, to obtain the status of a major investment project. We already have 16 large project agreements, which are expected to create more than 4,100 new jobs and attract more than €1.4 billion in investments," said Aušrinė Armonaitė, Minister of the Economy and Innovation.
According to the new requirements, a large company will have to create between 20 and 149 new jobs if it invests in Vilnius, and between 20 and 199 new jobs if it invests in Vilnius, and ensure that the wages of the 20 new jobs created by the investment project are at least 1.25 times the average wage in the municipality where the investment is located. These amendments were approved by the Seimas in December last year.
"This is not the first initiative we have taken to facilitate the development of large investment projects. Only this year, we reduced to six months the period of establishment for large projects aimed at meeting urgent state and security needs. This has paved the way for faster implementation of high value-added projects," said Karolis Žemaitis, Deputy Minister of the Economy and Innovation.
Prior to this initiative, the indicative timeframe for the implementation of preparatory processes in the defence and security sector in Lithuania was around 2-2.5 years.
The Green Corridor initiative, launched by the Ministry of Economy and Innovation and due to be launched in 2021, will make it much easier and faster for companies to set up, while also granting the status of a project of national importance and a 0% corporate tax rate for up to 20 years.
