VILNIUS —Lithuania’s Ministry of Economy announced that it will sign a deal with U.K. financial group Barclays on Sept. 15 to build an IT center in Vilnius.

The project will bring around €50 million of investment into the country, will be open early next year and is expected to create around 60 jobs initially for locals.

Though the agreement between the company and the government is yet to be signed officially, the company said it would put pen to paper within the next few months.

“As planned, the IT center would launch operations in Vilnius early next year, yet I cannot specify the precise date now. The specific date should be known after the signing of agreement with Lithuania’s government, which we intend to do in several months to come,” a Barclays’ spokesperson told BNS.

Accorinding to Andrius Francas, head of Lithuania’s unit of Strategic Staffing Solutions International, which is in charge of staffing at the center, Barclays has already chosen half of its 60 initial staff. The rest are expected to be chosen by October.

Barclays intends to employ around 400 professionals at the Lithuanian site. The bank reportedly aims to invest some 170 million litas (€49.27 million) into the unit.

The Ministry of Economy and Barclays signed a letter of intent on the establishment of an IT center in Vilnius in June.