The Lithuanian parliament on June 30th, 2016 adopted legislation making it easier for third-country nationals to obtain residence permits and get employed in the country.

US-based hotel giant Marriott International would like to see more than one Marriott-branded hotel in Lithuania, with the greatest potential seen in the economy and mid-priced segments, the business daily Verslo Zinios reported on June 29th.

China's tea production giant Yunnan Dianhong Group is considering setting up a representative office in Lithuania that could serve as a marketing center for Europe, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius said.

Cujo, which was featured as one of the hottest up-and-coming startups at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference 2016, is setting up operations in Lithuania. The US-based startup will establish its Lithuania division by the end of the year, where top IT professionals will work on developing, testing and improving Cujo’s smart home internet security technology.

On June 23, the first two of the 155 mm self-propelled PzH2000 (Panzerhaubitze 2000) howitzers the Lithuanian Armed Forces have acquired from the Bundeswehr will be brought to Lithuania. Under a contract signed last September the Lithuanian Armed Forces bought from the German Armed Forces 16 155mm self-propelled howitzers for combat purposes, and 5 for training and spare parts. By the said contract the Lithuanian Armed Forces also acquired 26 M577 V2 armoured command vehicles and 6 BPZ2 recovery tanks, 53 pieces of materiel in total. The contract also s includes training for the Lithuanian soldiers and support for technical maintenance arrangements.

A Stockholm arbitration court, which examined Lithuania’s 1.4-billion-euro suit against Russia’s gas supplier Gazprom over overcharging for gas supplies, has found no guilt on Gazprom’s part, Lithuania’s Energy Minister said.

At the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York City on 21 June, the Director of the Gender Studies Centre at Vilnius University, Professor Dalia Leinartė was elected to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) for a second time. The Lithuanian candidate received more support than any other – even 121 State parties voted for her. A total of 25 candidates contested for 11 seats.

Experts from Lithuania and Belarus who are meeting in Vilnius continue to have diverging views on the security of a nuclear power plant being built by Belarus in Astravyets close to its border with Lithuania and little success has been achieved so far in trying to reach a consensus on many issues.

Non-residents held 71.9% of total government debt in Latvia in 2015, which is the sixth largest share in the EU, according to the Eurostat information. Lithuania’s share was even third.

Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways) handled a total of 19.46 million tons of freight during the first five months of the year 2016, up 2.8% year-on-year, preliminary data from Statistics Lithuania showed on June 21st.