The 58th Conference of EU Paying Agencies’ Directors took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 19–21 November 2025, bringing together the EU Paying Agencies‘ senior representatives to discuss innovation, simplification, data governance, and the evolving role of AI in implementing the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) as well as the future direction of the CAP development, with a strong focus on interoperability, AI applications, and green transition. The representative of the Lithuanian National Paying Agency (NPA) – Deputy Director Tomas Orlickas – took part in the event and familiarised the audience with the NPA achievements in carrying out the multiple objectives of the CAP in Lithuania.
The sessions of the 58th Conference of EU Paying Agencies Directors focused on several key themes, including:
• The use of AI in the administration of support schemes;
• Administrative simplification and improved institutional efficiency;
• Modernisation of processes and advancing the green transition in the agricultural sector.
Over three days, delegates engaged in high-level presentations, thematic workshops, pitches and exchanges on best practices – particularly on AI applications, administrative simplification, aerial monitoring, and performance audit findings.
During the conference a key intervention was made by Tomas Orlickas, Deputy Director of the National Paying Agency (NPA) of Lithuania: “Research and development activities for more effective implementation of Lithuania’s CAP Strategic Plan” In his presentation, Tomas Orlickas highlighted Lithuania’s comprehensive contribution to the EU-funded research, development, and innovation initiatives designed to strengthen the implementation of the CAP Strategic Plan and support the transition towards a more sustainable, modern, and data-driven agricultural sector. The Deputy Director presented Lithuania’s ongoing research and innovation initiatives aimed at improving the efficiency, accuracy, and strategic coherence of the country’s CAP Strategic Plan implementation.
The Deputy Director also pointed out that the NPA’s Research & Development activities are closely aligned with EU priorities for digital transformation, environmental performance, transparency, and administrative efficiency. Tomas Orlickas outlined the importance of environmental monitoring, modelling of agricultural practices and tools that help measure biodiversity, carbon impacts and land-use changes, that are essential for delivering the green architecture of CAP. The showcased key initiatives included a number of projects with a focus on OASIS being among them.
The NPA Deputy Director familiarised the representatives of the EU CAP paying agencies with the developments of the Interreg Latvia–Lithuania Programme-funded OASIS project, which has already entered the second semester of its implementation. The project partners, National Paying Agency (Lead partner, Lithuania) and Rural Support Service (partner in Latvia) have already held online technical coordination meetings dedicated to key activities planned for the current semester. The process of developing high resolution deeply resolved sentinel satellite data service was presented, highlighting the importance to super-resolve the Sentinel-2 images. The resolution of these images will increase from 10m resolution to 1m and automatic border delineation will be activated for Klaipėda, Telšiai, Šiauliai, Panevėžys and Utena regions in Lithuania. The service will respectively cover the regions of Kurzemė, Ziemgala ir Latgale in Latvia. As requested by both partners, the data will comprise electronic map review information of the current day and archival Sentinel satellite data for checking the eligibility conditions of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) support for farmers, as well as for the implementation of the OASIS project activities – testing, piloting and developing the respective artificial intelligence tool. The project stakeholders, municipal and regional institutions both in Lithuania and Latvia, who will participate in the pilot activities of the project, were identified, with their roles in the project defined. Clear communication and coordinated actions between Lithuanian and Latvian partners were underscored as essential to ensure smooth and successful implementation of the OASIS project.
Overall, the conference underscored a shared commitment among EU Paying Agencies to modernisation, interoperability, and innovation, setting the stage for enhanced collaboration.