Investing in land
The principal Act relating to foreign investment regime in Lithuania is the Law on Investment No. VIII-1312 issued on 7 July 1999. This act provides equal investment rules for domestic and foreign investors by listing areas and methods concerning where and how to attract different types of investment. The specific features of foreign investment regulation in a limited number of cases (e.g. state defence, national security) are presented below in this article. Special rules for investment can also be found in the Law on Banking, the Law on Insurance, and laws on other financial institutions. Those rules take precedence over the general rules of the Law on Investment in case of investment in specific areas... (Read more)
The EU structural policy aims at reducing economic and social di?erences among EU member states and improving competitiveness of less developed European regions through financial help. Lithuania’s Rural Development Plan (RDP) 2004-2006, supported by the national and EU funds has made a positive impact on the country’s rural development, but it could benefit from a better alignment with the regional development agenda. This article presents analysis of regional aspects of EU support for rural development in 2004–2006. The analysis includes a review of rurality de?nitions used by others and how they may be applicable to Lithuania in planning rural development programmes for 2007–2013... (Read more)
This Rural Development Programme for Lithuania for the period 2007–2013 has been prepared following the provisions of the Council Regulation EC No 1698/2005 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and further the Commission Regulation No No 1974/2006 laying down detailed rules for the application of this Council Regulation. Furthermore, this document is in full compliance with the provisions provided by the Council Regulation No No 2006/144/EB laying down the Community strategic guidelines for rural development which have been translated into the National Strategy Plan for Lithuanian for the specified period... (Read more)
According to the RDP, Lithuania has a land area of 65,300 km2 , and is roughly the size of Ireland. 97.4% of the total area of Lithuania is categorised as rural (the remaining areas are urban territories or urban-type settlements) and contains 33.4% of the total population. The rural population is ageing and one/fourth of rural residents is above 60 years-old. In rural areas the employment rate (and in particular the youth unemployment rate) is lower than in urban areas and the RDP shows that this figure is continuing to decrease. As a result of the reduced labour opportunities (mainly non-agricultural jobs), the average disposable income of rural households is 24.7% lower than urban ones... (Read more)