Doing Business With Lithuania

Note to reader The titles in the GMB series of Doing Business with… guides for each of the 10 countries that joined the European Union on 1 May 2004 were first published in hard copy over the 18 months preceding entry. Since publication, there have been changes in the law and regulatory environment in each country, both in the period up to accession as countries strove to complete the harmonization of their systems with the EU’s acquis communautaire body of legislation and directives and during the 18 months since. In some countries there have been changes in the taxation regimes or in accounting regulations. Change has occurred in political environments too, following parliamentary elections or in the balance of coalition governments. The economic climate of some states has been affected by the continuing malaise of the EU15 economies. Six of the EU10 (Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Slovakia) have entered the EU exchange rate mechanism 2, the eurozone’s ante-chamber, and expect to join in 2007 or 2008. The Central European states are less advanced in meeting the eurozone entry criteria and previous plans for early entry have been modified with entry dates slipping to 2009–2010 or later. All of these developments are reflected in the revised ebook editions, which GMB now offers in its online EU10 collection. The texts of the revised editions have been amended accordingly and the changes are tabled in the accompanying updates to each ebook for the benefit of readers who have been working with the original edition. Further updates are programmed at regular intervals and readers purchasing ebook editions now have the opportunity to take out annual subscriptions for the update services. In this edition of Doing Business with Lithuania updates are included for chapters 1.1, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 2.4, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 3.1, 3.4, and 3.5 at each chapter end. Jonathan Reuvid, Series Editor doing business with Lithuania AWS STRUCTURED FINANCE LTD INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL CONSULTANTS AWS STRUCTURED FINANCE LTD is a specialist firm of international financial consultants that focuses on all forms of trade, project and structured financing transactions. This may be in providing assistance at any stage from concept or business planning through advising on strategy and structuring the most effective and bankable project to actually raising debt, equity and other aspects of the financing package. AWS has almost unique experience in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union having worked throughout the region for many years. As well as a large group of specialists and contacts in the UK that can be used on any specific projects we also have a network of associates throughout the region. This ensures that we can access the right people and information in the quickest and most cost effective way. Our approach is a very practical one, based on real experience of what works and how to make things happen. Our experience allows us to approach potential problems from different angles and to find innovative solutions. We offer a very personalised service and start with the premise that we wish to develop ongoing, long term relationships with our clients and this ensures high quality but at a very competitive cost. Contact us to see how AWS can make a