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The Passport of Opportunity (GP) was one of the key issues discussed in the meeting between the President and the Minister.
“Until today, we have very little time until September 13, when the new requirements will come into force. We must have a very good system of access to general practitioners in Lithuania, especially in the regions, especially for those groups of society that does not use digital tools so well, ”emphasized Irena Segalovičienė, senior adviser to the president and head of the Economic and Social section, Policy Group.
He noted the need for good solutions that are convenient for residents.
“We hear discussions to expand the availability of GPs through the health system, health care institutions. (…) We must not only forget the possibility of people taking their GP themselves, but the state could take care of and deliver the GP to a person, send him or her home for maximum comfort and accessibility ”, he suggested the presidential advisor.
The Minister of Economy and Innovation, Aušrinė Armonaitė, assured that work is being done to make the GP accessible to as many people as possible.
Aušrinė Armonaitė
“For those people who may find it more difficult to collect it electronically, the Registration Center (RC) will start next week with buses that will circulate in municipalities that do not have RC units. We are talking to the Lithuanian post, companies, of course, we are also talking to colleagues from the Ministry of Health that a well-developed network of medical institutions and pharmacies in Lithuania would also be open to people who want to take out a GP . ”, Emphasized A. Armonaitė.
She estimates that at this time the GP has drawn 850 thousand. Unique consumers, at that time the paper GP collected about 20 thousand. persons
“The passport of opportunity is a digital tool for convenience, but according to current ministerial orders, the fact of vaccination or the fact of having immunity is also confirmed by a medical certificate,” assured A. Armonaitė.
Counterfeiting is a strict responsibility
A. Armonaitė assured that the falsification of any document threatens responsibility, therefore, false passports of opportunities will also be punished.
“Document falsification, whether there is a pandemic or not, is a criminal offense, so as we have seen here, a person has already been punished in Denmark, so in Lithuania document falsification is illegal and , in accordance with the law, those who forged documents will respond “- warned A. Armonaitė.
In assessing when layoffs and exemptions of GPs are possible, he stressed that the use of GPs is not an end in itself, the government pursues other goals, in particular to free up hospitalizations for patients.
“We hope not to have long-term deaths, but there is a problem and it is very important: when COVID-19 patients go to the hospital and resuscitation and now there are hundreds of those patients, they are treated as if another patient also needed treatment but not COVID-19, location. This is the health system and the situation in it is an important argument when it comes to some possible changes, releases, but the GP is not an end in itself, “says A. Armonaitė.
He stressed that in addition to this objective, it also seeks to ensure that economic activities can continue to function and that students can go to school.
For the safety of their clients, more and more entrepreneurs are voluntarily changing to serve the population with the Passport of Opportunities without waiting for September 13, when the Passport of Opportunities will be necessary for many companies or people who provide contact services.
“We maintain constant contact with the business. This process is going very well. People are happy that, for example, the cafes that work only with the Opportunity Passport do not have to wear masks, they keep distances, there are no other strict restrictions. It’s good that we were the first to create the Passport of Opportunity in the spring, so there was plenty of time to try and improve it. Now our main job is to increase the availability of the Opportunity Passport so that people who do not use electronic banking can use it.
Business in the country since August 16. You can choose to serve all or just Opportunity Passport customers and not wait until September 13 for this requirement to become mandatory.
He criticized the slow pace of innovation reform
The President’s Senior Advisor, I Segalovičienė, reported that during the meeting the President emphasized that structural reforms of innovation policy could not be postponed.
“We really need to focus and get to the final solutions as soon as possible. The main focus was the progress of the innovation reform and the main idea: that the Unified Innovation Agency should start operating early next year and this is really a very important priority work, especially considering the current period in which economic growth is forecast to be really positive, “said Irena Segalovičienė.
He explained that until recently all efforts were focused on accelerating the economy, increasing consumption, and today we need to think very strongly about investment and “strengthening the economy from another angle.”
“The President sees the efforts of the Ministry to implement the reform, but emphasizes that the efforts must be stronger, faster and more goal-oriented and, most importantly, the result for this to happen, and for it to happen as soon as possible, as businesses and the economy desperately needs it, “said the advisor
The improvement of the investment environment was also discussed at the meeting, and Minister A. Armonaitė presented new measures that are being considered to improve the investment environment in Lithuania.
A. Armonaitė herself assured that already in the first quarter of next year. a new Innovation Agency will be launched.
“It will not be an expansion of the bureaucracy, it is consolidating several institutions that are currently working with innovations, and we hope that this agency will be a tool for companies (…) to obtain more services in the development of innovations, it will increase exports of Lithuania of high value-added goods, investments in research and experimental development, and all this will lead to higher wages, ”says A. Armonaitė.
According to her, the reform is progressing rapidly and the Innovation Agency will not only provide advice to companies, but will also ensure access to EU funding and funds.
The Innovation Agency is established on the basis of the Versli Lietuva agency and combining the activities of other institutions operating in the field of innovation. The new body will be responsible for the development of the entire innovation ecosystem and all stages of innovation, from the development of ideas to the introduction of products to the market.
The priorities for the development of innovation in Lithuania will be in the fields of biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, information and communication technologies.
The Prime Minister also presented to the President how Lithuania is succeeding in attracting foreign direct investment this year. During the first half of this year, the Invest agency in Lithuania attracted 22 foreign investors. They plan to build around 3,000. jobs and invest about 100 million. euros. Negotiations are currently underway with 49 other potential investors.
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