Ministry of the Economy and Innovation this week announced investments of €1 billion in the Lithuanian economy for the year 2022-2023. The methodology for assessing digital solutions to be developed in the public sector was approved yesterday.

In the first half of this year, a large amount of useful data on pension savings, health care licences, personal income and taxes was opened to the public. The number of datasets opened on the portal has increased by a quarter and interest in them has almost doubled.

To strengthen the Lithuanian economy and overcome the challenges of recent years, Ministry of the Economy and Innovation plans to launch a series of measures totalling almost €1 billion by the end of 2023. The funding will cover a wide range of private and public sector projects in the fields of business, innovation, investment, as well as the digitalisation of government and business and the promotion of the green economy. Calls for funding for as much as 40% of this total are expected to be launched before the end of the year.

To help the EU reach its ambitious emissions reduction targets in the fight against climate change, Parliament is working to accelerate greener alternatives such as renewable energy.

In August this year, Lithuanian airports continued to record rapid growth rates. In the last month of the summer more than 573 thousand passengers travelled through Lithuanian Airports, almost 5 thousand flights were handled, and about 1.8 thousand tonnes of cargo were transported. Last month, passengers could choose from 90 destinations.

Ministry of the Economy and Innovation has taken over the management of the Defence Investment Fund, a fund of funds from the Ministry of Defence, which will promote experimental development and innovation activities in the field of defence and security and implement the MILInvest financial instrument. The Fund is managed by UAB "Investicijų ir verslo garantijos" (INVEGA).

Tomas Matulevičius has joined the Lithuanian diplomatic mission in Ukraine as Commercial Attaché in order to strengthen the representation of Lithuania's economic interests in Ukraine, which is one of Lithuania's priority markets for exports and innovation cooperation.

In order to help manufacturers of products of Lithuanian origin to replace the raw materials and components used in their production, Ministry of the Economy and Innovation will partially reimburse the costs of recertification of such products. EUR 1.5 million is earmarked for this purpose.

Turkish Airlines has added five flights to its weekly schedule between Vilnius and Istanbul as of October 2022, following a rise in demand by its passengers. Going forward, Turkish Airlines will have 14 flights a week, while it had nine weekly flights previously. This additional flight will improve connectivity between the two cities and over 330 destinations served by Turkish Airlines from its hub at Istanbul Airport.

Lithuania and Italy are strengthening cooperation in the field of intermodal transportation by developing new logistics routes for railway and other types of transport between Kaunas, the ports of Trieste and Monfalcone in Italy via the port of Duisburg in Germany, as well as between the Baltic Sea region, Scandinavian countries and Italy. This is stipulated in the memorandum of cooperation signed yesterday by the heads of Lithuanian Railways (LTG) and Italian logistics companies, during the visit of the Minister of Transport and Communications Marius Skuodis in Trieste together with the Lithuanian delegation who met with the Italian Minister of Sustainable Infrastructure and Mobility Enrico Giovannini.