On March 18, Zinta Jansons was re-elected as Chair of the Board and President of AmCham Latvia for 2021-2022. She has served as a Board Member since 2016. Zinta is Co-head of the Finance & Tax practice at the law firm Ellex Klavins. Liene Dubava, Roberts Melbardis, Pauls Miklasevics and Ieva Racenaja were elected as Vice Presidents for the next year. Congratulations to the re-elected officers!

On March 11, AmCham held its 28th Annual General Meeting to review the past year’s activities, elect the Board of Directors and make other important decisions for the business continuity. U.S. Ambassador Carwile opened the meeting with remarks focusing on the priorities of the new administration and the U.S. response to the pandemic. During the breakout sessions, members discussed advocacy priorities, U.S.-Latvia business ties and how to add value and provide networking opportunities in the virtual environment. In 2021 AmCham will focus on the following policy priorities: 1) Enhancing trade and investment and continuously raising awareness of economic opportunities between Latvia and the U.S., 2) Improving the investment and business climate in Latvia, 3) Getting prepared for the future of work and 4) Improving health outcomes of Latvia’s society. 

On March 26, members had a unique opportunity to engage in an online discussion on the development and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines with Professor Kaspars Tars, Senior Researcher at the Biomedical Research and Study Center of Latvia. Professor Tars gave an in-depth presentation on different vaccine types, how they work and their efficacy against new variants. 

On Friday, 19 March, AmCham EU hosted the first fully virtual Brussels Briefing, with over 40 representatives from 26 AmChams in attendance. The objective of the Brussels Briefing is to inform AmCham colleagues about the latest developments in EU policy, exchange advocacy best practices and network. Find out more here.

On March 17, AmCham together with VA Government hosted a public discussion on the Recovery and Resilience Facility that foresees investments for green transformation and digital transition, sustainable transport and digital infrastructure. Among the speakers were Agnese Dagile, Acting Head of the EU Commission in Latvia, Gatis Eglitis, Member of the Saeima, Arturs Toms Pless, Minister for Environmental protection and regional development and Ints Dalderis, Advisor to the Minister of Finance of Latvia. Experts touched upon key directions and projects within the national RRF plan, allocation of the funding and long-term liabilities to Latvia, timeframe for implementation of reforms as well as challenges and potential solutions to critique expressed by social partners. Revisit the event HERE!

On March 2, members of all three Baltic countries had an opportunity to join Pan-Baltic OSAC webinar featuring a presentation by the U.S. Secret Service’s Protective Analysis branch on Terrorism Trends and Tactics using the January 6th Breach on the U.S. Capitol as a case study.

Riga Stradins University, a modern, prestigious research university and the largest research institute in Latvia in Medical and Health Sciences, has joined the Chamber as a Corporate member. RSU offers 68 study programs to more than 9160 students and 35 study bases in Latvia and abroad. We warmly welcome Riga Stradins University to AmCham!

Anita Gaile with her solopreneurship Anita Gaile Consulting has joined the Chamber as a Small Business member. Anita is a business trainer, consultant and coach with professional experience of being HR Leader at Air Baltic Corporation, UK Foreign and Commonwealth office and Citadele banka. We look forward to working with Anita!

The American Latvian Association, the main representative organization for the Latvian American community with 100 member organizations, churches, clubs and some 4,000 individual members, has joined the Chamber as a Non-Profit member. A warm welcome to the American Latvian Association!

If you are interested in doing business in the U.S., please take part in a short survey. AmCham Latvia in cooperation with the Latvian Commerce of Commerce and Industry is planning to organize series of webinars for entrepreneurs and start-ups who are willing to enter the U.S. market. We have developed a survey (in Latvian) with an aim to identify potential topics of importance for the Latvian entrepreneurs to help us provide the right content. Please fill out the survey HERE by April 8, 2021. 

A new survey from AmCham EU and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reports that the transatlantic economy is on the mend thanks to the massive policy response to the recession brought on by COVID-19. Both the EU and the U.S. are set to see a return to growth in 2021, although the rebound is uneven with the U.S. powering ahead. The report notes that the fundamentals of the transatlantic relationship remain strong and will likely play a key role in the economic recovery to come. Read the report HERE.

Swedbank was ranked Top Employer 2020 and also the best employer in the financial sector according to survey conducted by CV-Online. Our members Citadele banka,  SEB bank, Luminor Latvija were also named among top 5 in the financial sector. airBaltic won the title in the transport and logistics sector and Premier Restaurants Latvia was declared the 3rd best employer in the public catering sector. MikroTik was last year's 3rd popular in the production sector, Accenture Latvia ranked 2nd best and Bite Latvija the 4th best in the IT and telecommunications sector.

Swedbank has recently published an overview of what has been done to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals and its most significant investments in 2020. The bank reports on a wide number of environmental KPI's and has set ambitious targets such as reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 60 percent 2030. The bank aims at creating a positive impact not only through their own activities but also through their customers and suppliers by helping make more sustainable decisions. Find out more about Swedbank's sustainability approach here
 

On 11 March, FICIL held its Annual General Meeting where the new Executive Board was elected. There is one newcomer to the FICIL Board in 2021 – Evija Šturca, Partner at KPMG Latvia. Ints Krasts, Board member at SEB Latvia, Iain Kennedy, CEO of BALTA Insurance Company, and Arnis Sauka, Professor and Director of the Centre for Sustainable Business at SSE Riga were re-elected to the Board for another term. 

On February 18th, Transparency International Latvia/Delna organized a panel discussion with justice and corruption experts and practitioners to help understand the reasons for Latvia’s stagnation in the Corruption Perceptions Index and to explore possible ways of reducing corruption. Based on the discussion Delna proposes solutions in three main areas: Latvia’s ability to convict high-level officials in corruption-related cases, integrity in business as well as political integrity.

March 2021

Welcome to our latest newsletter. The busy spring season has begun with numerous activities in March.

This month the Chamber re-elected its leadership, discussed timely topic of the Recovery and Resilience Facility and met professor Kaspars Tārs of the Biomedical Research and Study Center who offered insights into the development and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines. As a special treat, our members were invited to a Pan-Baltic OSAC webinar together with the U.S. Embassies in Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius.

We have prepared an extensive program in the coming months and look forward to e-seeing you! 

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