Lithuania is in Europe, situated on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, and covers 65,3 thous. sq. km. It has 99 km of coastline. Lithuania has borders with Latvia (610 km frontier), Belarus (724 km) and Poland (110 km), the Kaliningrad Region of the Russian Federation (303 km).

The Republic of Lithuania is a democratic parliamentary republic. Lithuania's national coat of arms is a white Vytis (knight) against a red background. The colours of the state flag are yellow, green and red.

The capital is Vilnius. Vilnius region is considered among the best 10 locations of Eastern Europe.

The population of Lithuania totalled 3.48 million in 2001. Proportion of urban and rural population is respectively 2.33 and 1.15 million.

The state language is Lithuanian. This language belongs to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European family of languages and is close to Sanskrit. Lithuanian has retained more of the old vocalic system and more morphological features than any other living Indo-European language.

"Litas" (Lt) is the national currency unit since June 25, 1993.In 2002 Litas is pegged to the Euro at the rate 3.4528 LT to 1 EUR. The denomination of currency is : 500, 200,100, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1 Lt (Litas). Coins: 5 Lt, 2 Lt, 1 Lt, 50, 20, 5, 2 and 1 Ct (Centas).

Lithuania's GDP increased by 6,7% in 2002 (6,5 % in 2001), what indicates the fastest economical growth in the region.

Over the past few years, Lithuania has become an attractive location for foreign investors and a competitive center for product sourcing in the region. The main reasons are a high-skilled, low cost alternative to production in the West.

Lithuania successfully closed Accession Negotiations with European Union and suppose to join EU in May, 2004. Lithuania also is going to join NATO. Lithuania is an experienced initiator of cross - national dialogue. In 1997 Vilnius hosted the Conference of 11 Presidents of the Eastern and Central Europe, which was recognized as an outstanding initiative for releasing tensions in the region. In 2001 the Lithuanian Government hosted the UNESCO International Conference Dialogue Among Civilizations.

National compulsory education stipulates that every citizen of Lithuania must receive ten-year general education. People who are willing to study further may complete their secondary, post-secondary and higher education in 13 Universities and Academies. Lithuania boasts Vilnius University, one of the oldest universities in the region of Eastern Europe.

The climate is maritime/ continental. In August the average temperature is +16.2° C. Absolute maximum temperature - 36°C was registered on 6 August 1992 and -2.9°C stands for absolute minimum temperature, registered in August, 1966. The average August precipitation is 75.6 mm.

WITFOR will take place in Vilnius Congress Hall located in the center of the city (Vilnius str. 6/14), just next to Government Building (Gedimino ave. 11), where parallel sessions will be held.