MUN Country profiles
A country profile is used to learn about your countries people, economy, problems, and views to the point where you can take its stance on any topic in debate. This means learning what positions a country has taken on topics before, as well as anticipating what positions they would take given new situations. To predict stances on new situations the countries history and current status have to be researched.
Official country name: Republic of Lithuania former: Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic

Government type: parliamentary democracy

GDP:
 $67.43 billion (2013 est.)

Allies: U.S.-LITHUANIA RELATIONS
The U.S. and Lithuania share a history as valued allies and strong partners. The United States established diplomatic relations with Lithuania in 1922, following its declaration of independence during World War I. Lithuania joined the Soviet Union in 1940 during World War II. In 1990, Lithuania proclaimed its renewed independence, and international recognition followed. The United States never recognized the forcible incorporation of Lithuania into the Soviet Union, and it views the present Government of Lithuania as the legal continuation of the interwar republic. * Afghanistan: Lithuania is a stalwart supporter of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan and has committed to continue supporting NATO’s post-2014 non-combat mission. Lithuania currently has approximately 240 troops, including Special Operations Forces and trainers, deployed in Afghanistan. Lithuania has led a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Ghor province since 2005, the smallest ISAF contributor nation to lead a PRT. Lithuania has pledged $500,000 annually from 2015 to 2017 to support the Afghan National Security Forces. The city of Klaipėda is also a key port along the Northern Distribution Network, which facilitates the transport of materiel to coalition troops in Afghanistan and serves as a retrograde route for materiel leaving the theater. * NATO:

Enemies:

Leader(s):
chief of state: President Dalia GRYBAUSKAITE (since 12 July 2009) head of government: Prime Minister Algirdas BUTKEVICIUS (since 22 November 2012) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president on the nomination of the prime minister and approval of the Parliament


Regional location: Eastern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea,

Neighboring countries: between Latvia and Russia

Size: 65,300 sq km

Population:
 3,505,738 (July 2014 est.)

Official language(s):
 Lithuanian (official) 82%, Russian 8%, Polish 5.6%, other 0.9%, unspecified 3.5%

Ethnic composition:
 Lithuanian 84.1%, Polish 6.6%, Russian 5.8%, Belarusian 1.2%, other 1.1%, unspecified 1.2%

Religious composition:
 Roman Catholic 77.2%, Russian Orthodox 4.1%, Old Believer 0.8%, Evangelical Lutheran 0.6%, Evangelical Reformist 0.2%, other (including Sunni Muslim, Jewish, Greek Catholic, and Karaite) 0.8%, none 6.1%, unspecified 10.1%

Gender composition:


Capital(s)/major cities:
 VILNIUS (capital) 546,000 (2009)

Currency:


Major exports:
 $30.4 billion (2013 est.) mineral products, machinery and equipment, chemicals, textiles , foodstuffs, plastics Exports - partners: | | Russia 19%, Latvia 11%, Germany 7.9%, Estonia 7.8%, UK 6.4%, Poland 6.1%, Netherlands 5.9%, Belarus 4.5% (2012) |

Major imports:
 $32.52 billion (2013 est.) mineral products, machinery and equipment, transport equipment, chemicals, textiles and clothing, metals Imports - partners: | | Russia 31.6%, Germany 10%, Poland 9.9%, Latvia 6.2%, Netherlands 5.6% (2012) |

Largest trading partners:
 The EU is the biggest trade partner of Lithuania with a 58% of total imports and 64% of total exports during the first ten months of the year 2009.

EU:

Physical features/climate:
 transitional, between maritime and continental; wet, moderate winters and summers

lowland, many scattered small lakes, fertile soil

Natural resources:
 Lithuania has an abundance of limestone, clay, quartz sand, gypsum sand, and dolomite, which are suitable for making high-quality cement, glass, and ceramics.

Military size:
 male: 20,425 female: 19,527 (2010 est.)

Development stage (LEDC/MEDC with description):

Along with these should be an overview of your country’s history, the major problems your country is facing right now, and the stances your country has taken on topics in the past.
During World War II, intelligence consumers realized that the production of basic intelligence by different components of the US Government resulted in a great duplication of effort and conflicting information. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 brought home to leaders in Congress and the executive branch the need for integrating departmental reports to national policymakers. Detailed and coordinated information was needed not only on such major powers as Germany and Japan, but also on places of little previous interest. In the Pacific Theater, for example, the Navy and Marines had to launch amphibious operations against many islands about which information was unconfirmed or nonexistent. Intelligence authorities resolved that the United States should never again be caught unprepared.
In 1943, Gen. George B. Strong (G-2), Adm. H. C. Train (Office of Naval Intelligence - ONI), and Gen. William J. Donovan (Director of the Office of Strategic Services - OSS) decided that a joint effort should be initiated. A steering committee was appointed on 27 April 1943 that recommended the formation of a Joint Intelligence Study Publishing Board to assemble, edit, coordinate, and publish the Joint Army Navy Intelligence Studies (JANIS). JANIS was the first interdepartmental basic intelligence program to fulfill the needs of the US Government for an authoritative and coordinated appraisal of strategic basic intelligence. Between April 1943 and July 1947, the board published 34 JANIS studies. JANIS performed well in the war effort, and numerous letters of commendation were received, including a statement from Adm. Forrest Sherman, Chief of Staff, Pacific Ocean Areas, which said, "JANIS has become the indispensable reference work for the shore-based planners."
The need for more comprehensive basic intelligence in the postwar world was well expressed in 1946 by George S. Pettee, a noted author on national security. He wrote in The Future of American Secret Intelligence (Infantry Journal Press, 1946, page 46) that world leadership in peace requires even more elaborate intelligence than in war. "The conduct of peace involves all countries, all human activities - not just the enemy and his war production."
The Central Intelligence Agency was established on 26 July 1947 and officially began operating on 18 September 1947. Effective 1 October 1947, the Director of Central Intelligence assumed operational responsibility for JANIS. On 13 January 1948, the National Security Council issued Intelligence Directive (NSCID) No. 3, which authorized the National Intelligence Survey (NIS) program as a peacetime replacement for the wartime JANIS program. Before adequate NIS country sections could be produced, government agencies had to develop more comprehensive gazetteers and better maps. The US Board on Geographic Names (BGN) compiled the names; the Department of the Interior produced the gazetteers; and CIA produced the maps.
The Hoover Commission's Clark Committee, set up in 1954 to study the structure and administration of the CIA, reported to Congress in 1955 that: "The National Intelligence Survey is an invaluable publication which provides the essential elements of basic intelligence on all areas of the world. There will always be a continuing requirement for keeping the Survey up-to-date." TheFactbook was created as an annual summary and update to the encyclopedic NIS studies. The first classified Factbook was published in August 1962, and the first unclassified version was published in June 1971. The NIS program was terminated in 1973 except for the Factbook, map, and gazetteer components. The 1975 Factbook was the first to be made available to the public with sales through the US Government Printing Office (GPO). The Factbook was first made available on the Internet in June 1997. The year 2014 marks the 67th anniversary of the establishment of the Central Intelligence Agency and the 71st year of continuous basic intelligence support to the US Government by The World Factbook and its two predecessor programs.