Crown attending Easter church service outside in Vilnius  04 Photo © Ludo Segers @ The Lithuania Tribune
Culture

Sunny Easter in Vilnius

What a difference a week makes. The long Easter weekend was a very sunny one. Temperatures are at long last rising to levels that start feeling more like spring. Finally, some flowers started to appear where just a week ago a good layer of snow had covered the landscape. […]

Gintarė Narkevičiūtė
Foreign affairs

Lebanon, the forgotten angle in the refugee crisis

Imagine for a moment that almost half of the population of Vilnius was Ukrainian refugees fleeing the civil war that rages on with the help of Putin‘s Russian army. That is the present situation in Lebanon, which is hosting several million Syrian refugees. […]

Ernesta Seiliūtė
Economy

Importance of intellectual property and data protection explained by Lithuanian lawyer

On Thursday 18 February, the European Business Network (EBN) invited Lithuanian lawyer Ernesta Seiliūtė to speak about intellectual property and data protection in Lithuania. Seiliūtė is a lawyer with IPnovus Law, an international law firm specialising in intellectual property. Pirated software and other dubious programs can lead to poor data protection and data breaches, which can be extremely costly for businesses and individuals alike. […]

Panel disussion at the  Estonian Chamber of Commerce in Vilnius
Economy

Mergers & acquisitions in Lithuania at slow pace in 2015

Global M&A activity grew to record levels in 2015, fuelled by some mega mergers in the pharmaceutical, energy and consumer industries. Lithuania bucked the trend with less consolidation and acquisitions than in the previous year and stood out as the least active in the corporate bond market. The findings on global and regional performance were presented by several industry experts at an event of the Estonian Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday. […]

The Dutch Ambassador Bert Van der Lingen in Vilnius   Photo Ludo Segers
Foreign affairs

Dutch and Lithuanian interests deeply intertwined, says ambassador (II)

Ludo Segers talks to the ambassador of the Netherlands in Lithuania about business ties, Dutch investment in the country and the Netherlands’s experience with gas that it could share with Lithuania. […]

Ambassador Bert Van der Lingen     Photo Ludo Segers
Foreign affairs

Dutch and Lithuanian interests deeply intertwined, says ambassador

Ludo Segers talks to the Dutch ambassador about taking over the presidency of the European council, on why David Cameron’s speech on getting a new deal for Britain with the EU was not anti-European, on how the Netherlands security interests are intrinsically intertwined with those of Lithuania and the Baltic States, and on how a new statue to be unveiled in Kaunas will commemorate an unsung Dutch hero of the Holocaust. […]

Global Lithuania Awards winners with President Grybauskaitė
Society

Lithuanian innovators and leaders honoured by president at Global Lithuanian awards

There was a feel-good atmosphere in the Lithuanian Presidential palace in Vilnius on Tuesday afternoon as Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė hosted a ceremony honouring the Global Lithuanian Awards. The annual awards are presented to individuals who, in one way or another, have contributed to Lithuania’s welfare domestically or abroad. The President and Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius praised the initiative and made it a point that a country is more than its geographical and demographic size. […]

Sinterklaas visiting   Vilnius  Photo Ludo Segers
Society

Sinterklaas visits Dutch ambassador’s residence in Vilnius

Vilnius is clearly slipping into a festive mood and the international community was clearly contributing Saturday. There was the International Charity Christmas Fair in the old town hall and Sinterklaas arrived in Vilnius, clearly with a bit of a Lithuanian connection. […]

Japanese Ambassador Shigeeda, Japanese Embassy Vilnius     Photo Ludo Segers
Foreign affairs

Japan’s man in Lithuania. Interview with Japanese ambassador in Vilnius

We meet Japanese Ambassador Toyoei Shigeeda in his office. On the little table next to him, there are first-day stamp souvenirs of Lithuania’s most famous Japanese, Chiune Sugihara. The Embassy is located on Čiurlionio Street in Vilnius, named after the famous Lithuanian composer and painter. Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis is particularly appreciated in Japan for his mystical paintings. […]

Shibuya district in Tokyo  Photo Ludo Segers
Economy

Japan, a business opportunity too far?

Walking through Tokyo Station on a weekday morning with tens of thousands of people leaves the impression of a well orchestrated ballet where the dancers manage to find their way through what looks like a labyrinth of train lines, subway, shopping areas and high speed train lines. Most of these people are the backbone of the innovative Japanese economy. […]

Janina Butkevičienė, Letizia Taliani de Marchio and Benita Guillaume  visit the Finish stand Photo Ludo Segers
Society

13th Christmas Charity Fair in Vilnius to offer international gift ideas

On 5 December, the Christmas Charity Fair in Vilnius will be organised in the Vilnius Town Hall to benefit some of the most vulnerable in society. The International Women’s Association of Vilnius celebrates this year the thirteenth edition of the charity fair. […]