Investment Climate Survey

The Lithuanian Free Market Institute is conducting an Investment Climate Survey which is aimed at generating establishment-level quantitative information that would help evaluate the performance of business enterprises and identify constraints to doing business. The survey was contracted by the World Bank and will be completed by 1st of May, 2004.

The survey is designed to provide firm level evidence on the impact of a wide range of policy reforms on business performance and the state of investment climate in Lithuania. The data from this survey will be compared with information from the World Bank’s recent surveys to benchmark the competitiveness of the Lithuanian private sector against major competitor countries. The survey is tailored to be repeated in 3-5 years to assess the impact of government policies on private sector growth and productivity increases.

This survey will be the foundation of an Investment Climate Assessment which will be written by the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia Private Sector Development group.

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Press releases

LFMI receives a Templeton Freedom Award

March 15, 2004 - The Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI) has been awarded a prize of the Templeton Freedom Awards Program given in the category of Institute Excellence. Three institutes from The Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Serbia & Montenegro were other organisations from Eastern Europe which were granted the same award. Over 140 institutes from more than 50 countries took part in the Templeton Freedom Awards Program.

Supported and named after the pioneer of international investing, Sir John Templeton, the program rewards innovative and outstanding work of think tanks in countries throughout the world that promote the ideas of freedom. The Templeton Freedom Awards Program was launched in September 2003 with a four-year pledge from the John Templeton Foundation.

The Programme is directed by the U.S. Atlas Economic Research Foundation. Since 1981, this foundation has been the leading international organization for supporting independent think tanks advancing freedom.

LFMI has already received one prize from the John Templeton Foundation. In 2001 LFMI became a winner of the Sir John Templeton Foundation’s International Freedom Project, directed by the Atlas Economic Research Foundation. LFMI has been awarded a grant for a semester-long course „Individual, Society, Freedom, Market.” LFMI’s fellow workers have been giving this course in Lithuanian universities for four years now.

The goals of the Lisbon agenda are hardly compatible, says LFMI

LFMI has analysed the Lisbon strategy and developed a comprehensive study on its impact on Lithuania

January 29, 2004, VILNIUS (Lithuania) – The core goals and objectives of the Lisbon strategy are not entirely coherent and can hardly be compatible, reported the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI), a private think-tank in Lithuania, after it has evaluated the Lisbon strategy and made an in-depth study on its impact on Lithuania and identified priorities for the country.

LFMI concluded that attempts are made to combine two different goals in the Lisbon agenda - to create conditions for economic growth and increased competitiveness, and at the same time to promote social benefits and social cohesion. LFMI also pointed out that some policy measures, currently being undertaken in Lithuania with regard to the country’s membership of the European Union, run counter to the recommendations set in the Lisbon agenda.

LFMI is the first and, so far, the only institution in Lithuania which has undertook a thorough analysis of the Lisbon strategy. The study presents not only the Lisbon strategy, but also a detailed evaluation of Lithuania’s priorities in reaching its targets and policy recommendations for relevant state institutions in Lithuania. The study discusses more specifically the goals and priorities laid down in the Lisbon agenda in the areas of entrepreneurship, employment, macroeconomic policy, education, health care, social cohesion and sustainable development.

The importance of the Lisbon strategy on the EU agenda and its relevance to Lithuania encouraged LFMI to take up this initiative. LFMI highlights that discrepancies between policy measures taken in Lithuania and the Lisbon goals are the primary reasons why Lithuania should have clear and articulated priorities. This analysis may well be considered the first framing of Lithuania’s priorities of social and economic policy in the EU, as well as the basis for representing Lithuania’s economic interests.

The study will be widely disseminated among the decision makers and the society in Lithuania. It has been contracted by the European Committee under the Government of Lithuania and co-financed by the local pre-accession assistance program of Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The English summary of the LFMI’s study can be downloaded on LFMI’s website at: http://www.freema.org/Projects/Lisbon.phtml.

LFMI has been analysing issues of Lithuania’s integration into the EU since 1998. It has conducted a number of impact assessment projects on the impact of EU accession on the road haulage, sea cargo, the energy and chemical industries in Lithuania, and an analysis of an overall impact of the EU membership on Lithuania’s economy. In co-operation with foreign partners, LFMI has staged several international conferences about the consequences of the EU membership on candidate countries’ economies and has taken an active role in the debates on the EU referendum in Lithuania. LFMI has also conducted a study about the future of Europe presenting Lithuania’s point of view concerning the reform of the EU and its institutions.

About the Lisbon strategy

The Lisbon strategy was adopted in 2000 at the summit of the European Union in Lisbon. Its ultimate goal is to attain that within a decade the European Union becomes “the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion.” The basic motive to adopt this strategy was the EU’s ambition to give fresh impetus to its lagging economy and to catch up with the US economy. Equally important was the EU’s effort to bring together the EU member states for a new project by setting concrete guidelines and targets to be reached by co-ordinating economic policies of individual countries.

The implementation of the Lisbon strategy is currently among the main issues on the EU’s economic policy agenda. Lithuania and other accessing countries joined the implementation process of the Lisbon strategy in 2003 and will meet with the EU member states to discuss the achieved progress in March this year.

About LFMI

The Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI) is a private, non-profit and non-political organisation established in 1990 to advance the ideas of individual freedom and responsibility, free market and limited government. The Institute’s team pursues its mission by conducting research on key issues of public policy, developing conceptual reform packages, drafting and evaluating legislative proposals, submitting policy recommendations at the legislative and executive levels, and conducting educational work in Lithuania. LFMI’s activities also include sociological surveys, publications, conferences, workshops, and lectures.

Since its inception, LFMI has addressed a variety of core issues confronting the reform process. Not only has LFMI helped set the terms of debates but has also played a key role in helping to craft and refine legislative proposals. LFMI led the creation of the legal and institutional foundation for the capital market, a currency board system enshrined in the Law on Litas Credibility and sound operational principles and financial disclosure of commercial banks. LFMI formulated a proposal for tax and budget reform that improved the official policy as well as prepared the foundations for private pension insurance and the Law on Pension Funds. A profound impact was exerted on company, bankruptcy and competition law. LFMI has also initiated and provided a decisive input to national Sunset and Sunrise programmes aimed at sizing down bureaucracy and reducing business regulation. One of the basic priority areas of LFMI’s research has been the European Union’s impact on the economy and the life of people in Lithuania.

LFMI receives financial support from individuals, corporations and foundations. LFMI receives financial support from individuals, corporations and foundations. Devoted to the principles of private ownership, LFMI accepts no funds from the Lithuanian government.