Luminor Economist Peteris Strautins gave an overview of the economic forecast for 2021 including economic consequences of the pandemic, outlining the major industries of growth, impact on the trade sector and the labor market at the online meeting with AmCham members. He also touched upon possible scenarios for the recovery. To view the presentation!

Inese Voika, Member of the Parliament and Chair of the Work Group for Transparent Lobbying Framework, addressed AmCham members on the development of advocacy regulation in Latvia. She explained that the Defense, Interior Affairs and Corruption Prevention Committee of the Saeima has set an objective to develop a lobbying regulation that would include a broad definition of lobbying and the requirement for registering lobbying efforts. AmCham members are invited to submit comments to the draft law.

On January 14, AmCham held an online discussion on the new approach to supervision of the banking sector, including the upcoming changes in legislation and how it may affect the bank-customer relationship and attraction of foreign investment. Insigths by key stakeholders from the legislative and regulatory branches and the private sector were presented, including Santa Purgaile, Chairwoman of FCMC, Gatis Eglitis, Chairman of Saeima's Financial Sector Supervision Committee and Laima Letiņa, Advisor at Finance Latvia Association. To view the presentation of Santa Purgaile!

In the annual State of American Business speech on January 12 , U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Thomas J. Donohue outlined the path for a widespread economic recovery through a bold agenda of infrastructure investments, workforce reskilling, immigration reforms, and reinvigorating America’s global competitiveness. Additionally, he warned that excessive regulations and anti-competitive taxes would undermine the recovery.

During the meeting members set priorities for 2021 and identified leaders and formed steering groups for 5 selected projects: Oncology data registry, Digital health strategy, Secondary use of health and social data, the Health Data Summit and Value based healthcare approach.