On 24-25 October, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania is hosting the international conference “Pivot to Asia: Challenges and Opportunities” in Vilnius. Speakers from more than a dozen countries and international organizations are sharing their insights into developments in the Asia-Pacific region and their impact on Europe and Lithuania.

“Today, the eyes of the world are on Asia. The Asia-Pacific region has become particularly prominent on the global geopolitical, economic and innovation map. Lithuania with its academic, scientific, cultural and business community, which is seeking and finding many paths to mutually beneficial cooperation with Asian partners, is no exception,” said the Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius in his opening statement.

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“PATIENT ZERO” is a medical term that started as a misunderstanding. An early North American victim of AIDS was anonymised in some documents as “Patient O”. The individual in question, Gaëtan Dugas, a Canadian flight attendant, was thought at the time to have been the point of origin of the North American AIDS epidemic. The misreading of O (for “Outside of California”) as 0 (ie, zero), though accidental to begin with, thus seemed propitious. In fact, Dugas was not the sole point of that epidemic’s origin. But the term stuck, and has spread. It has, indeed, spread beyond medicine to embrace another sort of plague—disinformation.

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Vice-Minister of Economy and Innovation Elijus Čivilis is presenting Lithuania’s digital innovation initiatives and sharing experiences in Berlin on how to digitise services in the public sector. 

“Lithuania’s target no longer is electronic, but rather digitised public services,” Čivilis was quoted in a press release. “We are seeking to become a digital country based on a universal data platform that is able to create services for public authorities and businesses alike, as well as for the general public.”

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A big chocolate factory and four candy shops were once part of the business empire of the Bunimovich family in Vilnius. Today, a curious façade detail reminds of the venture of Tobias Bunimovich.

If you find yourself at the beginning of Gedimino Avenue, the main street of Vilnius, you may notice a group of bears eating chocolate on the building No 2A.

These façade sculptures were once decorations on the entrances to a chocolate shop. Victoria chocolate production was one of the business ventures of Israel Bunimovich, a wealthy Vilnius banker and philanthropist.

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Gediminas Hill reinforcement works, which began on 3 January 2017,  accidentally unearthed burials. Following the identification of the remains of the participants of the 1863-1864 uprising, executed in Lukiškės Square in Vilnius, the continued search led to the unearthing of the remains of 21 men. It was decided to hold a State Funeral ceremony for the commanders and fighters of the 1863-1864 uprising in cooperation with Poland, in exactly one month, i.e. 22 November. The reburial will take place at the Rasos Cemetery in Vilnius.

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From 21 October 2019, Lithuanian solar power plants started operating in three refugee camps in Georgia - Prezeti, Tsilkani and Tserovani.

The total installed solar power capacity is 127.8 kilowatt-hours, which will reduce electricity costs and CO2 emissions for the local population by as much as 97.5 ton per year. It will provide electricity to administrative and public buildings and will help to solve the problem of drinking water supply.

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