ELTA

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ELTA is Lithuanian news agency based in capital Vilnius.

ELTA was founded in 1920 in Kaunas, the second largest city of Lithuania, by Juozas Eretas, the first director of the agency, a literature professor, publicist, and public figure of Swiss decent sought to make the ELTA news wire as efficient and reliable as a "Swiss watch".

During 1920-1940, ELTA had cooperated closely with the most prominent foreign agencies - its five teletypes used to send news from REUTER, DNB, HAVAS, STEFANI and TASS.

In 1926-1927 director of ELTA was Justas Paleckis, who later in 1940 was installed as Premier Minister by Soviets.

When Soviet troops occupied Lithuania in 1940, ELTA was incorporated as a part of the USSR information service known as TASS and relayed news from Moscow over the period 1940-1990. With the recovery of national sovereignty in 1990, ELTA also re-established it's independence and direct contacts with leading global agencies. In 1996, ELTA became an independent (not state owned) national news agency. Now Lithuanian News Agency ELTA is a stock company.