The Bank of Lithuania imposed a €350,000 fine on the Estonian bank Luminor Bank AS, which operates in Lithuania through its branch, for violations of the Republic of Lithuania Law on Payments, after conducting a thorough investigation of payment incidents that occurred in July–August 2020.

The Seimas approved the so-called employee relocation package initiated by the Ministry of the Economy and Innovation, which opens simplified conditions for investors from third countries to transfer their employees and family members. These changes are particularly relevant for Belarusian companies moving to Lithuania or considering to do so. This package of laws will enter into force on 15 June and will still have to be signed by the President.

230 000 electric vehicles and 60 000 electric vehicle charging points with an output of 1000 MW are planned to reach Lithuania by 2030. Today, Minister of Energy Dainius Kreivys and Minister of Transport and Communications Marius Skuodis discussed the action plan on the use of electric vehicles and the development of the infrastructure of electric vehicle charging points, and the upcoming challenges.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications, with the help of social partners, commences the preparation of the Aviation Development Guidelines 2030, which will provide for Lithuanian aviation vision and main development directions for the coming decade ensuring the sector’s stability, continuity of major works and synergy with the development of other modes of transport.

LTG Infra, the company responsible for the implementation of the Rail Baltica project in Lithuania, after consultations with the market, clarified the requirements and announced a renewed tender for the construction of a railway bridge across the Neris river. The planned bridge near Jonava will be the most challenging Rail Baltica engineering structure and the longest railway bridge in the Baltic States.

Lithuanian Airports welcome the summer with a record number of new destinations this year. According to the airlines’ current plans, almost 80 direct routes are expected to be operating at the country’s airports from June, including almost 50 routes to be renewed.

From the beginning of May, the cargo segment at Vilnius Airport is growing even more significantly - Turkish Cargo has introduced an additional cargo route between Istanbul, Kyiv and Vilnius. This flight is operated every Tuesday. It is said that development of cargo flights is mainly induced by the potential of e-commerce that is continuing to grow, also by growing flows of goods from the Asian region to Lithuania and surrounding markets.

Energijos skirstymo operatorius (ESO) and French company Sagemcom Energy and Telecom SAS have concluded a procurement agreement for smart metering infrastructure, which will ensure the acquisition and implementation of about 1.2 million new generation smart electricity meters as well as system data management and communication solutions. Smart meters will transmit the information about energy consumption via a secure connection, and residents will never have to write down the meter readings again, they will be able to see accurate consumption details, receive new services from market participants as well as consume energy more efficiently. The contract value of the largest smart metering project in the Baltic states amounts to EUR 75 million.

Minister of the Economy and Innovation Aušrinė Armonaitė is taking part in the EU Competitiveness Council meeting in Brussels, where issues related to the new industrial strategy and the EU’s strategic dependences on third countries are discussed.

The Ministry undertakes to implement the restructuring of public transport by 2027 by making the means of public transport and relevant infrastructure more accessible to people with disabilities and to allocate EUR 0.5 billion for this purpose. The above actions are provided for in a common Memorandum, which was signed today by the Ministry of Transport and Communications, enterprises under the Ministry’s control and organisations uniting people with disabilities during a special ceremony at V. Kudirka square in Vilnius.