The establishment of local action groups in Lithuania

In order to activate rural population and organizations of rural communities, to encourage innovations, to strengthen competitiveness of rural areas and to reduce the gap between town and countryside. Thirty-three partnership organizations were established in Lithuania in 2003–2004 according to the LEADER+ initiative. This initiative as an innovation rural development model is treated as an instrument not only for the rural development but also for the European integration. Much attention is paid to the improvement of administrative and methods skills of rural institutions to the establishment of local action groups (further - LAG's) and their development to the working out of territorial strategies and the ways of their implementation. This paper analyses the starting position of LAG's and determines the profile and role of LAG's in rural developmentVytauto Didžiojo universitetasŽemės ūkio akademij