Lithuania in 2007

Lithuania in 2007

Area: 65,300 sq km (25,212 sq mi) Population (2007 est.): 3,375,000 Capital: Vilnius Chief of state: President Valdas Adamkus Head of government: Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas

In an effort to reduce Lithuania’s dependency on Russian energy resources, in 2007 Vilnius encouraged closer energy collaboration in Europe. On February 23 the Baltic states and Poland agreed to build a new nuclear power station in Lithuania, replacing the plant in Ignalina. At the Vilnius energy summit in October, the Baltic states and Black Sea regions were encouraged to bypass Russia and secure a reliable supply route for Caspian Sea oil. The oil supply that had ceased in 2006 from Russia to Mazeikiu Nafta, Lithuania’s main oil refinery, continued to be stanched. Also, Russia dismissed the Lithuanian claim that Moscow should pay compensation of $34 billion for its 50-year occupation of Lithuania.

On May 10 the parliament approved Pres. Valdas Adamkus’s firing of Arvydas Pocius, the director of Lithuania’s State Security Department. The declassified hearings of the parliamentary Committee on National Security and Defense indicated that the aim of Dujotekana (the natural gas import company founded by Rimantas Stonys, Antanas Bosas, and Viktor Uspaskich with the help of Russian intelligence) was to increase Russian influence in Lithuania. It engineered the takeover of the energy enterprises and attempted to acquire the railway transit across Lithuania to and from Russia’s occupied Kaliningrad region. Pocius had failed to transfer to the Committee on National Security and Defense the existing classified reports, which provided the link between Dujotekana and Albinas Januska (an adviser to Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas) who helped Gazprom acquire the Kaunas thermoelectric power station.

In economic news, the stable GDP growth rate of 9% was largely due to the significant increase (of $5.4 billion over the previous year) in foreign direct investment (FDI) in Lithuania. By the beginning of the second quarter, FDI had soared to $13 billion.

In September the Lithuanian basketball team won the bronze medal at the Eurobasket championship in Spain. Earlier in the year Lithuania was the guest of honour at the Turin (Italy) International Book Fair.

Darius Furmonavicius