A special series of publications on Lithuania published this week by the British daily Financial Times was paid for by the government, Delfi.lt has reported.
In November, the government’s investment promotion agency Invest Lithuania and the Financial Times concluded a contract worth 56,800 euros and purchased content campaign services, according to Delfi.lt. The campaign is scheduled to run from November 24 to January 24.
On Monday, the Financial Times published seven articles about Lithuania in its Special Reports section, dedicated to the country’s international standing, financial technology sector, photographers, the Suwalki Gap, energy independence from Russia, basketball, and Lithuania’s first billion-dollar start-up Vinted.
Rūta Nemunytė, director of the Marketing Department of Invest Lithuania, told Delfi that the series of publications in the Financial Times “will make it easier in the long term to attract the interest of international journalists, entrepreneurs or investors in opportunities in Lithuania”.
Nemunytė commented that the agency conducted a “cost-benefit analysis” and decided that the campaign would help build Lithuania’s image as a reliable, safe, progressive, and attractive country for business.
Meanwhile, Richard Milne, a reporter for the Financial Times who has written many articles about Lithuania, tweeted that the Lithuanian government had no influence on the content of the publications.
All I can say is that the editorial choices were all the FT's - all the article topics were chosen solely by me and most of them written by me. Lithuania's government had no influence whatsoever on any of this. 1/2
— Richard Milne (@rmilneNordic) November 29, 2022
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