On May 30, 2002 in Vilnius the Lithuanian Free Market Institute and UNDP held a conference „Explaining and Reducing Poverty in Lithuania: Prospects and Reality.” The goal of the conference was to discuss the causes of poverty in Lithuania and to propose ways and measures for reducing it. The event drew around eighty participants from the President’s Office, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, the Lithuanian Labour Exchange, Vilnius Municipality, UNDP, LFMI, various public organisations as well as business and media representatives.
Bellow is the programme of the conference and several photos from the event.

 

 

09:50 Registration

10:00 Welcome Address from the President of Lithuania

10:05 Welcome Speech

Ms. Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, Minister of Social Affairs and Labour
Ms. Cihan Sultanoglu, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative

 

10:20 Poverty and Social Separation in Lithuania

Mr. Algis Dobravolskas, Poverty Monitoring Commission

 

10:45 Comments

Ms. Skirmantė Kondratienė, Lithuanian President’s Office
Ms. Gražina Jalinskienė, Ministry of Social Security
Mr. Jonas Mickus, Association of Municipalities

 

11:05 Discussion

11:30 Coffee break

11:45 The Causes of Poverty and Possibilities of Reducing It

Ms. Guoda Steponavičienė, Lithuanian Free Market Institute

 

12:10 Discussion 13:00 Lunch Break

14:00 Unemployment Increases the Risk to Become Poor

Mr. Albertas Šlekys, Lithuanian Labor Exchange

 

14:25 Comments

Ms. Violeta Toleikienė, Vilnius Municipality, Department of Health and Social Security
Mr. Remigijus Šimašius, Lithuanian Free Market Institute

 

14:45 Discussion

15:10 How the Business People See the Unemployment Problem

Mr. Ignas Staškevičius, Vilniaus prekyba
Mr. Remigijus Šydeikis, Kalnapilis
Agnė Zinkevičiūtė, Vilniaus konsultacinė grupė

 

15:40 Comments

Mr. Boguslavas Gruževskis, Institute of Labor and Social Research

 

15:50 Discussion

16:20 Closing remarks

Mr. Ugnius Trumpa, Lithuanian Free Market Institute

 

16:30 End

 

 

Ms. Minister of Social Affairs and Labour Vilija Blinkevičiūtė

Ms. Cihan Sultanoglu, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative

(from the left) Mr. Algis Dobravolskas, Poverty Monitoring Commission, Ms. Vilija Blinkevičiūtė, Minister, and Mr. Ugnius Trumpa, LFMI's President

Ms. Guoda Steponavičienė, LFMI's Vice President

Mr. Ugnius Trumpa and Mr. Artūras Melianas, MP

Mr. Albertas Šlekys, Lithuanian Labour Exchange

Mr. Remigijus Šimašius, LFMI's Policy Analyst

(from the Left) Mr. Albertas Šlekys, Mr. Ignas Staškevičius, Vilniaus prekyba , Mr. Ugnius Trumpa, Mr. Remigijus Šydeikis, Kalnapilis , and Ms. Agnė Zinkevičiūtė, Vilniaus konsultacinė grupė