The Lithuanian government on Wednesday passed a draft law on avoiding double taxation and preventing tax evasion with Taiwan, the Lithuanian Ministry of Finance said.
In August, the Lithuanian Trade Representative Office in Taipei and the Taiwan Representative Office in Lithuania signed an agreement to avoid double taxation on income and capital gains between the two countries.
The agreement is intended to ensure a fairer tax system and improve the competitiveness of bilateral trade between the two countries on the international market.
Photo: I-Hwa Cheng, AFP
The agreement is in line with the government’s goal of strengthening cooperation with Taiwan and proposing solutions that would give Lithuanian companies opportunities to expand, outgoing Lithuanian Minister of Finance Gintare Skaiste said.
The decision to exempt Lithuanian businesses from double taxation would promote broader bilateral cooperation and allow them to realize their ambitious goals, Skaiste said, adding that she hoped the next government would continue the policy.
Lithuania has signed double taxation agreements with 58 countries, including Taiwan.
Separately, Lithuanian Minister of National Defense Dovile Sakaliene on Wednesday said that the US shouldering the large proportion of Western defense spending is unfair to Washington and that Europe needs to step up and bolster its defense industries to deter Russia and China.
The pragmatic argument for the US to stay involved in Europe is that it needs European support in its confrontation with China, and if Europe “is hurt by Russia,” that would lead to bad consequences for the US, Sakaliene said in an interview with Reuters in New York.
“I’m very realistic, and I understand that Europe is not even in the top three of the priorities of the United States. Priority No. 1 is the United States. And then it’s Taiwan, and then it’s Israel, and then Europe,” she said. “The war in Taiwan is coming, I think it’s clear to all of us.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
Taiwan plans to cull as many as 120,000 invasive green iguanas this year to curb the species’ impact on local farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture said. Chiu Kuo-hao (邱國皓), a section chief in the ministry’s Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, on Sunday said that green iguanas have been recorded across southern Taiwan and as far north as Taichung. Although there is no reliable data on the species’ total population in the country, it has been estimated to be about 200,000, he said. Chiu said about 70,000 iguanas were culled last year, including about 45,000 in Pingtung County, 12,000 in Tainan, 9,900 in
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw