On 5 November, ICMPD organised a consultation meeting dealing with the question of how to retain international and domestic talents in Lithuania. The meeting was organised in cooperation with the Office of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, the Lithuanian Ministry of Economy and Innovation and the Government Agency Invest Lithuania and funded by the European Commission Structural Reform Support Service (SRSS).
The meeting served as a platform to present the project and exchange information on the current situation and initiatives in the area of talent policy. During the consultation meeting, key experts and stakeholders discussed labour migration trends, labour market shortages, and skills in the context of talent attraction. The also addressed chances and challenges in talent policy in Lithuania. The event gathered representatives of government institutions, local authorities, employers as well as the nongovernmental sector and academia involved in this area. The international experts on regional talent attraction and retention from"Future Place Leadership" shared best practice examples in the field.
Context and background
Competition for talent has become an essential topic for business and countries, which are increasingly active in introducing measures to both attract talents and better retain those they have attracted. The demographic and labour market situation in Lithuania, linked among others with emigration has been affecting the county’s competitiveness and ability to attract foreign direct investment. Lithuania remains a country with the highest negative net migration in the EU with immigration having only a symbolic compensatory effect. Lithuania’s economy showed a reasonably steady growth trend accompanied by improving living standards, increasing employment and lower unemployment rates. At the same time, it’s attractiveness for talent remains relatively limited.
About the project
The event was organised within the project Developing a strategy for the implementation of a talent policy in Lithuania (TALENTAS), currently implemented by ICMPD. The objective of the project is to contribute to attracting and retaining higher numbers of talents in Lithuania, including students, graduates, and highly skilled Lithuanians living abroad. It targets relevant Lithuanian public institutions, employers, as well as universities in order to increase their institutional capacities to formulate, develop and implement reform policies and action. The results will be a number of concrete deliverables including reports and working papers on best practices.