News

A group of representatives of Lithuanian business and other fields called “Lithuanian Icebreakers77” have hoisted the sail of yacht “Ambersail”, which has sailed around the world, and started an intriguing expedition. The team left Porto harbour in Portugal on Saturday and they intend to visit the main harbours in South Europe and North Africa within 360 hours, to find beneficial business ideas and ideas for development of business infrastructure in Lithuania and to see if R1 gene is responsible for similarities of local inhabitants and Lithuanian inhabitants.

A crew of 15 people, including businesspeople, lawyers, public figures, representatives of various professions, will be sailing in Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea for two weeks and will visit such cities as Porto, Kaskai, Lisbon (Portugal), Cadiz, Malaga, Almeria, Cartagena, Ibiza, Mallorca and Barcelona (Spain), Casablanca, Rabat (Morocco) and Gibraltar (Gibraltar).

“We have contacted government and business representatives of these cities. They will be our source of ideas how to improve business environment in our country, look for new opportunities for mutual communication, and we will present possibilities for investment in Lithuania”, says the initiator of such expedition and steersman, the head of the company “Redhaus” Rokas Volungevičius.

According to him, the route for expedition was selected on purpose. It is based on the theory of independent researcher of history Aivaras Lileika who states that inhabitants of South Europe and Lithuanians are related by gene R1 which is especially common in Portugal and Spain. A researcher has investigated that this gene came to South Europe from Sarmatia, which was located in current territory of Lithuania, two thousand years ago. Therefore, Spaniards, Portuguese and other inhabitants of this region have originated from the same tribes, and common gene R1 may determine similar relation with environment, point of view to business and its principles.

According to Rokas Volungevičius, this expedition in Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea is the first initiative of “Lithuanian Icebreakers77”. All members of the crew have made their personal investments into this journey and have sacrificed their holiday time.

This expedition has received ideological support from Vilnius Municipality and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that have assisted in making a contact with municipalities of foreign cities. The club “Rotary International” in Lithuania also supports this journey.

By Aura Mykolaite