Wanting to avoid political risks, attract investors easier, and expand faster in the Western markets, Russian startups are choosing the Baltic States Ugnė Karaliūnaitė wrote in DELFI.

The state-owned Public Limited Company Lietuvos pastas has signed a cooperation agreement with S.F. Express being one of the largest courier service providers in China. On the grounds of the agreement, the companies will cooperate in the field of items delivery from China to Europe, the EU member states, as well as Russia and Belarus.

On Thursday, the Eurogroup which includes financial ministers of the euro area held a meeting and discussed Lithuania's euro adoption aspirations for 2015. President of the Eurogroup congratulated Minister of Finance Rimantas Sadzius with Lithuania's compliance to the euro introduction criteria.

Proposals submitted by investors regarding the tax system reform are discussed in the Government of Lithuania, however, at this point they are regarded just as "subjects of discussion".

Chair of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania Vitas Vasiliauskas says that in two years following the adoption of the euro Lithuania will compensate euro banknotes printing costs of one central bank of the European Union.

The job vacancy rate in the euro area was 1.7% in the first quarter of 2014, up from 1.6% recorded both in the previous quarter and in the first quarter of 2013, said Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė met with the ambassadors of EU member states residing in our country. The meeting focused on ways to strengthen economic and energy cooperation, the introduction of the euro in Lithuania, and current security situation in Europe.

Based on the data of Statistics Lithuania, in the first quarter of 2014 revenue of non-financial entities from sales of goods and services amounted to LTL 52.9 billion (EUR 15.3 billion) or by 1.4% less year-on-year and by 14.1% less than in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Some time ago Mazeikiu Nafta, the only oil refinery in the Baltic States, was Lithuania's pride. Now it becomes an increasingly big headache.

Lithuania seeks to begin export of milk and meat products to Hong Kong. On Friday a delegation from the Ministry of Agriculture conducted a visit to Hong Kong to learn about requirements and procedures necessary to export milk and meat products to the market in this country.