On Monday, the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Ministry of Economy and Innovation and the Vilnius City Municipality signed a historic agreement on the promotion of routes important for business and inbound tourism. The aim of the agreement is to pool and coordinate the capabilities of the different authorities in order to ensure sustainable flights and passenger flows along strategic routes.

Vilnius City Municipality‘s Council has approved the Capital City Flight Promotion Programme. From 2024, the programme will finance marketing activities to promote flights of interest to business and inbound tourism. The aim of the programme is to stimulate demand for these routes, attract more travellers and foreign investors, and make efficient use of Vilnius’ tourism and economic potential.

On Tuesday the Environment Committee adopted its position on measures to ensure sustainable pesticides use and reduce the use and risk of all chemical pesticides by at least 50 % by 2030.

The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) and the Republic of Lithuania have signed a 20-year credit facility to co-finance the energy efficiency programme for public buildings during 2023–2026.

Week-long events of the International Transport Forum (ITF) kick off today, Monday, in Vilnius, with a gathering of representatives of the Transport Ministries, academia and business from more than 50 countries.

The Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian Transport Ministers met in Riga on Friday to discuss relevant transport issues to the three Baltic countries. They focused on the implementation of the European gauge railway Rail Baltica and the passenger train between Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn. The passenger train between Vilnius and Riga is expected to start operating at the beginning of 2024.

A meeting of Baltic transport ministers will take place in Riga, the capital of Latvia, on 19-20 October. Marius Skuodis, Minister of Transport and Communications of Lithuania, will meet the new Latvian Transport Minister Kaspars Briskens and Estonian Climate Minister Kristens Michals to discuss the progress in the Rail Baltica project, the launch of the Vilnius-Riga-Tallinn passenger train route initiated by Lithuania, and other topical issues on the regional and European agenda.

The 1st Vilnius Biennial of Performance Art (VB23), dedicated to the 700th anniversary of Vilnius and taking place throughout the year, concludes its programme at the contemporary art fair ArtVilnius’23, between October 13–15 at LITEXPO.

Vilnius was awarded the title of the European Green Capital 2025 in the final of the European Commission’s Green Capital Awards. In the final competition round in Tallinn, Vilnius beat two runners-up – Portugal’s Guimarães and Austria’s Graz.