During the second meeting of the SCCL Advocacy group, consisting of KG Knutsson, SLT Industrial Components, Baltic Amadeus, SynoInt, Volvo Trucks Lietuva, Nordgain, Ansell Protective Solutions Lithuania and led by the Managing Partner at WALLESS Dovile Burgiene, the group members agreed on the two main health-related measures in order to overcome the challenges caused by the coronavirus: an increased #Covid-19 testing as a commercial service for businesses as well as clear guidelines for better employee protection. The suggestions have been submitted to the Minister of Health, Minister of Social Affairs and Labour and to the Chairperson of the Committee on Health Affairs at the Seimas. The full document can be found here (in English) and here (in Lithuanian).

A number of our Member companies, representing foreign investors, have expressed a need for collected information in English regarding state guidelines for ensuring a safe working environment for the employees. The State Labour Inspectorate has published recommendations for enterprises in English on how to ensure the safety and health of workers during the lockdown. The document can be found here. In a reply to the request by the SCCL Advocacy group, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour also informed about the obligation for companies with more than 50 employees to elect at least one employee representative with responsibility for health and safety and to establish a health and safety committee, according to the Health and Safety at Work Act.

It is crucial for Sweden, being a small and open country, to quickly restart and upgrade globalisation in a new and responsible way.  A group of experts including Eva Björling, Sweden’s former Minister for Trade, and Andreas Hatzigeorgiou, CEO at the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, among others, suggest a four-part strategy in a debate article in the Swedish daily economic newspaper Dagens Industri:

1. Sweden should push for the EU to remove the border and trade barriers that have been erected due to pandemics.

2. Sweden and the EU should take the initiative for new free trade agreements that eliminate countries' tariffs and other barriers to trade and investment in medicines.

3. Clearer sanctions are needed against countries that do not sufficiently minimize the risk of pandemic. 

4. Sweden should push within the EU for the introduction of new mechanisms and instruments that secure the EU's internal borders from the spread of infection.

Source

According to the debate article published in the Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter on April 27th. The Stockholm Chamber of Commerce has decided to appoint a Restart Commission for presenting concrete policy proposals to the political decision-makers on how Sweden should regain its strength after the corona crisis. The members of the Commission will
each write an analysis of the necessary measures in their respective fields of expertise - labor market, fiscal policy, taxes, housing, EU-cooperation, etc. The analysis and conclusions will be submitted to the Swedish Government and Parliament in August, in connection to the start of the budget work. Source 

The Lithuanian Professionals in Stockholm Club invites you to a lunch webinar on April 30 at 12:00 – 13:30 CEST with Ina Marčiulionytė, the Ambassador of the Republic of Lithuania to the People's Republic of China. Mindaugas Reinikis, Chairman of the Lithuania-China Forum will moderate the webinar. The webinar will touch upon the following questions: How has the pandemic affected society and businesses in China? What does it mean to be in a country where the pandemic has originated? Will the pandemic change something in China? Will China lose the position of the main supplier in the World?

Being a Member of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Lithuania is an effective way of establishing new business contacts, building networks and staying informed about Swedish-Lithuanian business. 
The Chamber has five membership categories for legal entities and two types of membership for individuals.