The Commission welcomes the entry into force of the EU4Health programme on last Friday. This follows the Council adoption on 17 March and the vote on the programme by the European Parliament on 9 March. It marks the final step towards making €5.1 billion available to strengthen the resilience of health systems and promote innovation in the health sector. EU4Health will make a significant contribution to the post-COVID-19 recovery by making the EU population healthier, supporting the fight against cross-border health threats and boosting the EU's preparedness and capability to respond effectively to future health crisis, as part of a future strong European Health Union.

The Bank of Lithuania published the monetary financial institution (MFI) balance sheet and interest rate data for February 2021, which show that:

In aviation, safety has always been, is, and will continue to be everyone’s top priority. With the global pandemic severely disrupting flying and our travelling habits for over a year now, we have launched an initiative to talk to the air carriers flying to and from our airports.

More electric vehicles and charging stations, cleaner fuels and “greener” heavy transport are all provided for in the Law on Alternative Fuels (LAF) passed by the Seimas. Under the law, the transport sector will use more renewable energy sources and will see an increase in electrification; the use of biomethane and hydrogen gas will be encouraged, and biofuel blending requirements will be stepped up.

In order to ensure convenient intercity communication, the Ministry of Transport and Communications, together with its social partners, seeks solutions for an optimum long-distance communication system in Lithuania. Minister Marius Skuodis had a remote discussion with the new Advisory Council of the Ministry on matters relating to regular long-distance buses.

The Commission has published its first preliminary assessment of the impact of SURE, the €100 billion instrument designed to protect jobs and incomes affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2020, the number of electronic money institutions (EMIs) and payment institutions (PIs), which comprise a significant share of Lithuania’s FinTech sector, and their income continued to rise, whereas the amount of their payment transactions exceeded €50 billion.

At the meeting with Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov on Thursday, Minister of the Economy and Innovation Aušrinė Armonaitė discussed the importance of digitisation and open data and offered Lithuania’s support and expert assistance for Ukraine to join the Common European Union (EU) data space.

In aviation, safety has always been, is, and will continue to be everyone’s top priority. With the global pandemic severely disrupting flying and our travelling habits for over a year now, we have launched an initiative to talk the air carriers flying to and from our airport.

The year 2020 was a challenging year for the transport sector. All communication was heavily constrained by the COVID-19 pandemic, also, part of the EU Mobility package provisions came into force. However, with the exception of the most severely impacted aviation and passenger transport sectors, changes in the communications sector may be seen as moderate with some results even exceeding expectations. The 2020 Transport Market Report prepared by the Ministry of Transport and Communications states that last year the transport sector saw the increase in freight transport, while the Seaport of Klaipėda reached its all-time load record.