A. Armonaitė received an award from the President of Ukraine

Minister of the Economy and Innovation Aušrinė Armonaitė received the Ukraine Peace Prize, introduced by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.   She was awarded on behalf of the Ukrainian people for her support to Ukraine during the country’s war with Russia.

“The war in Ukraine is destroying both the lives of people and the country’s economy, which is why we have been trying to help as much as we can since the beginning of the war. This high-level recognition shows that our efforts are meaningful. We will continue to work with the Government of Ukraine to ensure that after the war, Ukraine will be more prosperous, more developed than ever before,” says A. Armonaitė. 

At the Minister’s initiative, Lithuania has started to coordinate the rebuilding of Ukraine, and in mid-July, the Ministry of Economy and Innovation initiated and hosted the international conference Rebuild Ukraine in Vilnius, which provided guidelines for the restoration of Ukraine’s infrastructure and economy.  In April, A. Armonaitė visited Kyiv to discuss ways to help strengthen Ukraine’s economy.

At the initiative of the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, Lithuania is paying subsidies to Ukrainian businesses that decided to set up operations in our country after the 24th of February this year, in order to help them establish themselves and create jobs. In addition, under changes to the Startuok loan facility, Ukrainian citizens and businesses wishing to set up operations in our country can get interest rates for business start-ups or working capital reduced by one third. Help is also available for the country’s companies facing difficulties as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In response to the war in Ukraine and the potentially large number of refugees, Lithuania has urgently simplified the rules on immigration, requests for asylum, residence permits and employment for Ukrainian citizens. In addition, from the 1st of July 2022, the costs of attracting missing highly qualified specialists are compensated; this measure is also applied to Ukrainian specialists fleeing the war.

V. Zelenskyy introduced the Ukraine Peace Prize earlier this year. It can be given to companies, governments or politicians supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia, as well as to multinational companies that have withdrawn from Russian markets.

Google was the first company to receive the Peace Prize in May. Microsoft, Amazon, Mastercard, and Oracle received prizes as well.