NEWS

The Association of Municipalities of St. James's Way of Lithuania was established on May 31  by 9 Lithuanian municipalities: Kaunas City Municipality, Panevėžys City Municipality, Alytus, Kaišiadoriai, Kalvarija, Kretinga, Lazdijai, Marijampolė and Varėna District Municipalities. The Mayor of Panevėžys City Rytis Račkauskas has been elected the President of this Association for a 4 year term. The Mayor of Alytus District Municipality Algirdas Vrubliauskas became the Chairman of the Board.

On June 3, Lithuania was unanimously accepted into the Federation and became a full- fledged member. The President of the Association of Municipalities of St. James' s Way of Lithuania, the Mayor of Panevėžys City Rytis Račkauskas has been elected the Vice-President of the Federation of Europe.

"Joining into European Federation will provide Panevėžys with the possibility to become part of European Network of Cultural Ways. The City will have new perspectives to be included into international tourism routes(cultural, religious), to use EU financial instruments for the development of cultural trails and to spread the information about it. International tourism will be promoted, cultural and natural heritage will be protected ", - said Rytis Račkauskas.

Together with Lithuania, Germany and Poland also became the members of the Federation. Thus, the ways leading to Santiago de Compostela via Lithuania will continue in Poland and Germany. They will join the trails in France, Portugal, Italy and, certainly, Spain through the pilgrim  ways of St. James.

Being just 200 km away from Santiago de Compostela and just by the Spanish border the Municipality of Vila Pouca de Aquiar welcomed the participants of the General Assembly from Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Italy and France in a hospitable way. The participants of the Assembly have elected a new President of St. James's Way Federation of Europe, the representative of Portugal Ms. A. R. Dias for 1 year term and the Vice-Presidents. The Congress of Cultural Ways of European Council which will take place in Vilnius in the end of October has been discussed. Thus, already in a few months, Lithuania will welcome the representatives of European countries having the ways of St. James. The aim of the Congress is to coordinate the network of St. James's Pilgrim Ways in  a more effective way, to establish the infrastructure satisfying the needs and requirements of nowadays.