Last 9th September, the representatives of the government and ministries met with representatives of the Foreign Investors’ Council in Latvia (FICIL) and agreed on the priority areas to improve the country’s competitiveness in the global market and make the business environment more attractive for entrepreneurs. The participants of the High Council meeting set out the relevant targets, such as the promotion of energy independence, the fight against the shadow economy, and the digitization of the public sector to accelerate and improve the exchange of data between institutions. Stability and rule-of-law make the recipe. FICIL is a non-governmental organization that unites the largest foreign companies from various industries, foreign chambers of commerce, and the Riga School of Economics (SSE Riga). FICIL’s mission is to improve Latvia’s business environment and competitiveness in attracting foreign investment, using the experience and knowledge of its members in order to provide recommendations to the government.
Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš stressed: “The availability of energy resources and their price is the greatest challenge confronting us today. In the context of the upcoming heating season, the government has taken the necessary decisions to make energy resources available, particularly natural gas, and has adopted a broad support package for both citizens and businesses. The government has also made a decision to strengthen energy independence in the medium-term by developing wind parks – both through the Latvian–Estonian joint project Elwind and the new project, which will be implemented by the joint venture set up by Latvenergo and Latvia’s State Forests to develop wind parks. The government has also decided on setting up a liquefied gas terminal in Skulte”.
The participants shared the view that it is essential to increase foreign investors’ confidence, providing a predictable and stable business environment by strengthening the rule of law, the quality of legislation, and judicial efficiency. Specialization of the courts by improving accessibility and digital capacity of the courts also plays an important role. The parties also agreed on the need to make an in-depth evaluation of the public sector’s structure to more effectively introduce, for instance, green initiatives and digitalization. Human capital is also a prerequisite for long-term economic growth; therefore, the opportunities for retraining and further training of employees should be developed and closely linked to market needs. That would also make it easier for entrepreneurs to attract labor. And now, word to the facts.