On 1 August 2017, Viktoras Pranckietis, Speaker of the Seimas, met with members of the United States Congress. The US Congress delegation, composed of members of the House Committee on Natural Resources under the leadership of Rob Bishop, Chairman of the Committee, as well as Mike Turner, member of the House Committee of the Armed Services, came to Lithuania to familiarise themselves with the situation in the energy market of the Baltic region and to discuss regional security issues.

Lithuania's government will propose that reduced rates of the value-added tax (VAT) tariffs should be 5 and 15%, says Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis , however, refusing to specify the goods and services the tariffs will apply to.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė attended the meeting of the Baltic states’ presidents and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. Enhancement of regional security and defense cooperation between the Baltic states and the U.S. was in the focus of the meeting.

On 28 July, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius congratulated the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru Víctor Ricardo Luna Mendoza on the country’s Independence Day.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė presented letters of credence to Ričardas Šlepavičius, Lithuanian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Italian Republic.

The European Commission is proposing that an agreement between social partners to improve the working conditions of seafarers on board of EU-flagged vessels, be enshrined in EU law.

The 9th Security Union progress report, published today, highlights the recent steps taken to prevent terrorist financing through trafficking in cultural goods and improve the interoperability of EU information systems.

Sophie in‘t Veld, EP rapporteur on the PNR agreement between the EU and Canada says there may be wide-ranging consequences following the EU Court of Justice’s landmark ruling.

The 2017 edition of the Consumer Conditions Scoreboard shows that more and more EU consumers are shopping online and that their trust in e-commerce has increased, in particular in buying online from other EU countries.

On July 21 German soldiers finishing the 6-month rotation in the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battalion Battlegroup in Lithuania were decorated and farewelled at a ceremony at the Lithuanian Great Hetman Jonušas Radvila Training Regiment.