On 14 September 2006 in Vilnius the Lithuanian Free Market Institute, in partnership with the British Embassy in Lithuania, organised a conference “How can Lithuania Survive on a Global Market?“. The even focused on the impact of free trade and globalization on Lithuania and addressed the opportunities and challenges that globalisation posed on Lithuanian businesses acting on the global market.

 

LFMI was privileged to host Mr. Philippe Legrain, a British economist, journalist and writer, as the distinguished guest speaker of the conference. Mr. Legrain writes about globalisation and European issues. He was previously chief economist and director of policy for the pro-European pressure group, Britain in Europe, special adviser to WTO director-general Mike Moore, and trade and economics correspondent for The Economist. He has written for various newspapers and magazines, including The Guardian, The Independent, the Wall Street Journal Europe, the FT and the New Statesman. He is the author of Open World: The Truth about Globalisation and is currently writing his second book, on international migration. He is a major advocate of the euro and globalisation.

 

During the event LFMI presented a research with a view to dispelling the fallacies and myths related to free trade and globalisation. The conference was attended by Lithuanian politicians, high ranking government officials, experts, political scientists and media representatives.

 

The research and the conference were conducted within the framework of LFMI’s project on globalisation and free trade, launched in June 2006 and supported the British Embassy in Lithuania. It aimed at evaluating what impact freer trade has had and continues to have on the Lithuanian economy. The project also targeted at debunking popular myths about globalisation and free trade.