News

SEB Bank AB (SEBA), Lithuania’s largest bank by assets, raised its economic-growth outlook for the country for a second time, citing better-than-expected first- quarter results and a resilience to Europe’s debt crisis.

The economy will probably expand 3.5 percent this year, compared with a May estimate of 3 percent, the bank said in an e-mailed report today. Growth may slow to 3 percent in 2013, it said.

Lithuania’s economy expanded 3.9 percent from a year earlier in the first quarter, the European Union’s second- fastest pace after neighboring Latvia.

The Baltic nation’s output advanced as domestic demand strengthened and the country’s main export markets of Russia, Germany, Latvia and Estonia, posted quicker economic growth than economists predicted.

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Israel company Sundor is starting to market El Al schedule flight from Tel Aviv to Vilnius as of 20 June. Flights are scheduled to operate every week on Wednesdays.

Mr. Bezalel Karvat, the president of the company Sundor hopes that the launch of this new flight will mark the beginning of a year-round cooperation and of at least twice a week operation next season. “Sundor is hoping that the Israeli tourists will discover the endless possibilities Lithuania can offer and that the Lithuanian tourists will discover the variety  that Israel and the Holly land can offer,” – Mr. Karvat said.
“Direct flights between Vilnius and Tel Aviv show a clear desire for friendly and close communication between people of the two countries,” Emanuelis Zingeris, the Member of the Lithuanian Parliament, the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Chairman of the Group for Interparliamentary Relations with the Knesset of Israel, emphasised the importance of the new flight.

Sundor is a full subsidiary of El Al Israel Airlines. It was established in 1977 mainly as a charter operator. The company operates flights to popular holiday destinations, such as ski resorts in Swiss, Italian, French and Austrian Alps, Greece Islands, Cyprus, Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona and other. The company also operates charter pilgrimage charter flights mainly from Poland, Slovakia, Italy and Spain.

In 2011 El Al carried around 350,000 passengers.

The passiveness by the Lithuanian authorities laid the foundation on which Snoras finds itself today, in bankruptcy with its owners facing criminal allegations. Above: Snoras Bank President R.Baranauskas

BALTIC TIMES:
The massive fraud at the collapsed Snoras Bank will cost the taxpayers in Lithuania hundreds of millions of euros before the cleanup is complete

The massive fraud at the collapsed Snoras bank and Latvijas Krajbanka will cost the taxpayers in Lithuania and Latvia hundreds of millions of euros before the cleanup is complete. Bankruptcy administrators have only just begun to sift through the debris.

While Vladimir Antonov was playing a big shell game, building an empire of financial institutions, sports enterprises and car interests, propped up by bank customer deposits, regulators in both countries not only were slow to act on growing warning signs reaching them, but missed supposedly clear signals they sent to each other.

Officials at the Bank of Lithuania (LB) received a shocking message from Swiss banking authorities in the summer of 2011. It was in a reply from the Swiss banking supervision institution to a request sent by LB. After the Lithuanian central bank’s new chairman, Vitas Vasiliauskas, took office in the spring of 2011, with strong support from state President Dalia Grybauskaite, one of his efforts was to force the fourth biggest bank in the country, Snoras, to become more transparent, to meet Western standards. But neither he, nor his close aids, could believe that the fraud committed by the bank owners had gone so far.
Pieces of the puzzle in Switzerland
The many documents in LB’s Snoras file included two appraisals from two Swiss banks. They were presented to LB by Snoras in a routine asset declaration procedure. These appraisals, from Swiss bank ‘A’ and Swiss bank ‘B’ (the banks’ identities are classified), were Snoras’ balance sheets giving a snapshot of the value of all Snoras assets in the two banks as of an earlier date. The appraisals showed that the assets totaled around 1 billion litas (290 million euros). The new leadership at LB wanted to know if these securities still had the same value, so they asked their Swiss colleagues to check into it.

The answer they received was not what they had expected. The Swiss banking supervision institution determined that Snoras had no securities at the stated value in these banks. Bank ‘A’ had no account of Snoras at all, and in bank ‘B’ the Snoras account was empty.

During the summer, on July 19, a concerned Vasiliauskas met with the main shareholders of Snoras, Vladimir Antonov and Raimondas Baranauskas, who was also the director of the bank, and asked, so as to get the accounts in order, that the securities of interest be moved to the Lithuanian Depository of Securities. Though he already had the bad news from Switzerland, he didn’t betray this knowledge to the Snoras owners. The two agreed with the proposal. In actuality, this was a last chance given to the bank owners to correct the discrepancy.

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Founded in Minsk in 1992, the European Humanities University (EHU) celebrates its 20th anniversary this year—its seventh in Vilnius—with a series of special events in Lithuania and several other countries, including Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Belarusian European Humanities University, which is in exile in Vilnius, is preparing the next generation of Belarus, thus giving hope for an open society in the country based on liberal and democratic values

This was stated by Foreign Minister Audronius Azubalis on an annual Assembly of the EHU Trust Fund donors on June 5, dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the university.

"We believe that these young people will be able to properly participate in the development of the Belarusian society and will contribute to the country’s openness to the values of the Western world," said the Foreign Minister of Lithuania.

According to him, it is necessary to continue providing support to the EHU until it could be allowed in Minsk. Audronius Azubalis says the university is based on respect for the traditions of liberal education and combines the best ideas of East and West, as one of the most important transatlantic projects for the European future of Belarus.

"We are engaged in positive changes in Belarus through support of the EHU. This is our solid contribution to the future of the Belarusian society," said the Minister of Lithuania.

EHU was founded in 1992 in Minsk, but in 2005 it was forced to move into Vilnius under pressure of the country’s authorities. Today, the university has 1.800 students, mostly citizens of Belarus.

Source: http://telegraf.by/en

Mr Soros believe the German public will soon tire of bailing out the Greeks

George Soros:
Europe has three months to save the euro

NEW YORK: Europe has three months to save the euro, billionaire investor George Soros said this weekend amid global pressure to end eurozone turmoil rocking financial markets and creating deep economic uncertainty. 

"In my judgment, the authorities have a three months' window during which they could correct their mistakes and reverse the current trends," Soros said Saturday at an economics festival in Trento, Italy, naming those authorities as Germany and the Bundesbank. 

"In a crisis, the creditors are in the driver's seat and nothing can be done without German support," he said, noting that public opposition to austerity in the eurozone "is likely to grow until the policy is reversed."

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(Reuters) - When Jean-Claude Trichet called last June for the creation of a European finance ministry with power over national budgets, the idea seemed fanciful, a distant dream that would take years or even decades to realize, if it ever came to be.

One year later, with the euro zone's debt crisis threatening to tear the bloc apart, Germany is pushing its partners for precisely the kind of giant leap forward in fiscal integration that the now-departed European Central Bank president had in mind.

After falling short with her "fiscal compact" on budget discipline, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is pressing for much more ambitious measures, including a central authority to manage euro area finances, and major new powers for the European Commission, European Parliament and European Court of Justice.

She is also seeking a coordinated European approach to reforming labor markets, social security systems and tax policies, German officials say.

Until states agree to these steps and the unprecedented loss of sovereignty they involve, the officials say Berlin will refuse to consider other initiatives like joint euro zone bonds or a "banking union" with cross-border deposit guarantees - steps Berlin says could only come in a second wave.

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Swiss business school:
Lithuania shows the way

Lithuania is the most improved economy in new global competitiveness rankings, proving that austerity measures can pay dividends, according to a survey by Swiss business school IMD.

A protestor is arrested during a 2009 riot over austerity measures (Photo credit: Getty)
The unpopular policies taken by Lithuania to put its economy in order in 2008-9 were rewarded with a nine-point jump to 36th place out of 59 economies in the rankings.

The Swiss business school ranks economies in terms of competitiveness, after rating their success in managing their economic, business and human resources.
In early 2009, there were riots on the streets of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, as the government forced through severe economic sanctions. Local people were furious at tax hikes: “The government has long neglected the social needs of the people, pensioners and others,” Algirda Paleckis, leader of the Frontas radical left party, told Reuters.

But the measures worked. In the first quarter of this year, the Lithuanian economy grew by 3.9%, on the back of stronger domestic demand, rising exports and a jump in construction output. Other Baltic economies also improved, with Estonia rising two places to 31.

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Prime Minister
Andrius Kubilius:
We support Germany's side concerning fiscal discipline

State's economy cannot grow without saving, says Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius, stressing that Lithuania supports the German side which is in favour of fiscal discipline and saving.

Kubilius says that some countries which have failed to save now suggest resorting to even greater spending, thinking that higher spending would spur economic growth, informs LETA/ELTA.
"Growth and saving always go together. One cannot even dream about the economic growth if the state finances are not stable and there is little trust in the state's finances on the global markets. Therefore, in the French-German debates where France says that saving should be put to an end in order to achieve growth and Germany claims that saving plans must not be abandoned, we clearly support the German side, as I have clearly stated it previously," he said in a telephone interview to the radio Ziniu Radijas from Germany, where the PM is for the Baltic Sea States Summit.
In reaction to the new French President Francois Hollande's statements that the economy cannot expand there where only the disciple is found, Lithuanian PM said that the example of Lithuania and other Baltic States shows the opposite: the economy recovers quickly when the state keeps a strict fiscal discipline.

First ISAF cargo reaches Lithuania from Afghanistan

The first International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) non-military cargo has been safely delivered to Klaipeda State Seaport from Afghanistan, Lithuania's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

A total of 76 containers will be further shipped to the United States by sea. This is a result of concentrated and coordinated cooperation between all Lithuanian state institutions and companies in the transport sector, writes LETA/ELTA.
Making use of its unique geopolitical position between the EU and Eastern Neighbourhood countries and intensively cooperating with the U.S. administration, transport and logistics partners, Lithuania has developed new multimodal ISAF cargo transport schemes. The schemes exploit the potential of Lithuanian transport infrastructure and carriers. After the assessment of these circumstances, Lithuania was entrusted with the U.S. ISAF cargo transit via Klaipeda State Seaport.
Lithuania transports the U.S. ISAF cargo from and to Afghanistan via Klaipeda State Seaport and, thus, is part of the Northern Distribution Network, which was established by the United States and the Baltic States as an intermodal route of transportation to ship NATO non-military ISAF cargo to Afghanistan.
The ISAF cargo transportation is useful not only because of the income, but also for the accumulating experience of cargo logistics to Afghanistan. After 2014, when forces of NATO countries will leave Afghanistan, Lithuania will have already established itself in international Asian transit corridors. That will also help other countries to implement their commercial or development cooperation projects in Asia in the future.

Rokas Masiulis, General Manager
of Klaipedos Nafta

Lithuania’s planned floating liquefied natural-gas terminal on the Baltic sea will have the capacity to supply neighboring Baltic countries.

The floating storage regasification unit could supply neighboring Latvia either via gas pipelines or by shipping the vessel to the country’s port in Riga, Rokas Masiulis, chief executive officer of Lithuania’s oil terminal Klaipedos Nafta AB (KNF1L), said in a press conference in Vilnius today.

The Baltic region is working to diversify its imports from Russia’s OAO Gazprom, its sole supplier. Lithuania agreed to lease a floating gas storage facility from Norway’s Hoegh LNG to begin operations in the Klaipeda port at the end of 2014.

“Technically this terminal in Klaipeda has no barriers to service the whole region,” Masiulis said. “The vessel could be located in Riga in summer and supply Latvia’s underground storage facility and then relocate to Klaipeda in winter.”
The gas pipeline infrastructure connecting Latvia and Lithuania still requires upgrades, he said.

Klaipedos Nafta, which is 70.63 percent owned by the state, plans to borrow 293 million litai ($107.3 million) for investment in the gas terminal from commercial banks or international lenders such as the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development and the Nordic Investment Bank.
Klaipedos is in talks with as many as 9 nine potential gas suppliers for the terminal and plans a tender on gas contracts in the third quarter this year, Masiulis said. Qatar Liquefied Gas Co. and Norway’s Statoil ASA (STL) are among possible suppliers for the terminal.
Estonia is studying its separate LNG solution for the country. Vopak LNG Holding BV, a unit of Royal Vopak NV, is conducting a feasibility study for a terminal at Muuga harbor, near Tallinn. The study is expected to be presented to the Economy Ministry in August.

Wizz Air, the largest low-fare, low-cost airline in Central and Eastern Europe, celebrated yesterday the arrival of its second Vilnius-based aircraft, Vilnius Airport said in a statement.

Wizz Air has now increased its investment to USD 160 million at the Lithuanian capital and will carry over 500,000 passengers in the current year, outgrowing any other airline in Vilnius, writes LETA/ELTA.

This growth comes as Wizz Air commences five new Vilnius routes and offers the biggest route choice compared to any other airline at Vilnius airport. Wizz Air's 13 low-fare routes, which include the 5 new routes to Bergen, Liverpool, Oslo, Paris and Stavanger, will grow incoming tourism and allow Lithuanian families to beat the recession with low fares to the sun and exciting European cities.

President Grybauskaite and President Obama meeting in Chicago.

The European Union, battling with its sovereign debt crisis, may not be ready to expand the euro area to the east in 2014 when the Baltic nations of Lithuania and Latvia prepare to switch currencies, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said.

If Europe is ready, “of course we will join,” Grybauskaite said in an interview yesterday with Bloomberg News in Chicago. “It’s not only about Lithuania. It’s about Europe. Will Europe be ready to enlarge in 2014 because still we are seeing pending a lot of difficulties in the south of Europe, probably new elections in Greece.”

The Baltic nations of Latvia and Lithuania are next in line to switch currencies to the euro, while other governments across eastern Europe including the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary are slowing preparations for the changeover as the euro region grapples with the debt crisis. Doubts are mounting on whether Greece can remain in the 17-nation currency zone as it prepares for June 17 elections following an inconclusive May 6 ballot.
Both Latvia and Lithuania peg their currencies to the euro with the official government goal of joining Europe’s monetary union in 2014.

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A Russian newspaper reported in April that the military has begun deploying S-400 mobile surface-to-air missiles in Kaliningrad, the Baltic exclave bordered by Poland and Lithuania.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite has urged NATO to strengthen its military deterrence potential in the face of Russia’s intensified militarization in Kaliningrad.

The European missile shield is largely considered as part of the global American anti-ballistic missile system. Russia previously suggested that a joint anti-missile defense system be created on a territorial principle of shared responsibility. The offer was dismissed by NATO who also refused to give Moscow any legal guarantees that it won’t be targeted, forcing Russia to deploy a new radar system in Kaliningrad. Russia also warned it would relocate Iskander missiles to its westernmost region.

Addressing the NATO summit in Chicago, Dalia Grybauskaite said that, according to the Lisbon agreement, Russia was to cooperate with NATO on principles of mutual trust, transparency and predictability, which it allegedly violated by deploying surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles in Kaliningrad.

She stressed that the abovementioned missiles could reach Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn, Warsaw, Berlin and other NATO capitals, urging the alliance to create a stronger deterrence mechanism and show more flexibility at joint military drills. She also cautioned the allies of passing military know-how technologies or equipment to third parties.

One litas coin dedicated to basketball won the award of the most beautiful circulation coin in the Mint Directors Conference, which takes place every two years, the Bank of Lithuania said.
During the XXVII Conference, which took place in Vienna this year, the coins minted in 2011 and 2012 were evaluated. They competed for the nomination of the Most Beautiful coin and the Most Technologically Advanced coin in the categories of commemorative gold coin, other commemorative coin and circulation coin. The Lithuanian coin received an international award for a perfect expression of the theme, simplicity and clarity of the visual expression.

"Commemorative coins of the Bank of Lithuania frequently become winners of various international competitions, however, a circulation coin was awarded for the first time," said Audrius Misevicius, Member of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania, Chairman of the Currency Design and Production Commission.

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By Daiva Simonis Miller

My parents, Marija and Jonas Simonis, were married Feb. 3,1940, just before the Russians invaded and occupied Lithuania during World War II.

Because the Soviets were allies of the United States during the war, this nasty chapter of history is not well-known in the USA. The extent of Soviet war crimes and the suffering of the victims have only been revealed to the west since the fall of the USSR in the early 1990s, but those who lived in occupied countries during those times learned to live in fear, as their lives were on the line.

When the Soviet army rolled into Alytus, Lithuania, in June of 1940, Marija and Jonas quickly moved their few belongings from their apartment into Marija’s parents’ home to prevent the Soviets from quartering soldiers there.

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