Lithuanian Minister of Transport and Communications Marius Skuodis, participating today in the international conference E-Fuels Dialogue 2024 in Berlin, signed a joint declaration with his German and Japanese counterparts to promote the use of e-fuels in transport. Lithuania sees the production and use of e-fuels and other alternative fuels as an important opportunity for the country's economy, since the development of these fuels will help our country become the centre of green energy in the Baltic region.

On Monday, the Minister of the Economy and Innovation Aušrinė Armonaitė will meet with Stefano Pontecorvo, President of the Italian company Leonardo, and present the simplified regulatory framework for companies to develop defence and security industry activities in Lithuania.

On Friday evening, the international credit rating agency S&P Global Ratings changed the ‘A+’ long-term debt rating (negative outlook) previously granted to Lithuania to ‘A’ with a stable outlook, leaving the ‘A-1’ short-term debt rating in effect. The agency based its decision on geopolitical risks in the region due to the protracted war in Ukraine.

The Ministry of the Economy and Innovation has conducted a survey among the country's businesses on the performance of business regulators. The survey shows that positive trends are emerging: the number of inspections is decreasing, the majority of inspections are planned, and businesses are clearly informed of irregularities and given instructions on how to remedy them.

The Ministry of the Economy and Innovation is investing in the modernisation of business service centres in Lithuania. A €2.4 million call for project implementation plans is being launched for business service centres that want to automate their business processes.

Minister of Finance Gintarė Skaistė today publicly presented the Defence Fund package, which includes proposals to increase the national defence spending to 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) for the period 2025-2030. According to Minister G. Skaistė, the proposed package consists of four parts: the extension of the solidarity contribution, corporate income tax decisions, excise duty decisions, and the concept of the security contribution.

The Ministry of the Economy and Innovation continues to support innovation. This time, €15 million has been allocated to 170 startups and spin-offs in the Vilnius region to develop solutions in artificial intelligence, blockchain technology and robotic process automation.

The Ministry of the Economy and Innovation has launched a record amount of funding for all successful projects under the highly popular InoPažanga and InoBranda instruments. An additional €79.8 million has been allocated to 98 projects on the reserve list alone, which create innovation and strengthen cooperation between business and science.

The Ministry of Finance in response to the European Commission's (EC) partially positive assessment of milestone 142 of the plan "New Generation Lithuania", an EUR 8.7 million sanction applied, and EUR 14.88 million planned to be disbursed in May, will consider the possibility of applying to the General Court of the European Union (GC) regarding the compliance of the Commission's actions with the regulation of the instrument. According to the plan "New Generation Lithuania", Lithuania has already received almost EUR 1 billion grant funds and more than EUR 470 million loan funds.

Lithuania will make even more data available and easier to share for businesses and citizens. The government has approved a draft law submitted by the Ministry of the Economy and Innovation to implement the European Data Governance Act.