September 11, 2020
The information was prepared by Zane Ozola, Deputy Head of the Communication Department.
During a high-level meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of Latvia and the Foreign Investors’ Council in Latvia (FICIL) on Friday, September 11, investors and the government agreed on priority areas in the country where improvements are needed to make the investment environment in Latvia more competitive. Investors pointed to the arrangement of the public health care system, the stability of tax policy, the strengthening of the rule of law and the wider use of digital solutions in Latvia.
“It is important that Latvia is an interesting and attractive place for foreign direct investment, which is a precondition for faster economic development. The government is implementing several reforms – starting with the so-called” overhaul “of the financial sector, administrative-territorial reform, which opens opportunities for further improvements in the education system. The Foreign Investors ‘Council in Latvia, as well as local business organizations, is an important partner of the government, and today we worked with the representatives of the Foreign Investors’ Council in Latvia to assess what has been done so far and to identify further improvements in various areas. “It is important to continue this co – operation on a daily basis, improving the business environment and, consequently, our competitiveness,” emphasized Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš.
“We feel heard and appreciate the government’s work over the past year in delivering the long-awaited reforms in higher education and territorial reform, as well as its timely response to the Covid-19 crisis, limiting the spread of the virus and significantly reducing the economic downturn. must continue, adapting to future developments in Latvia and the world, as well as addressing the protracted reforms in health care, tax policy, strengthening the rule of law and achieving wider use of digital solutions, “says Gunta Jēkabsone, Chairman of the Board of FICIL / Executive Director of Circle K Latvia.
The government and FICIL agreed that in order to promote Latvia’s global competitiveness, one of the priorities is digital transformation and the goal is to develop a common approach and responsibility in public administration in digital development, ensuring digital transformation in all sectors, transfer of good practice and digital skills.
It was also agreed during the meeting that the ongoing reforms in health care should be continued, ensuring wide access to health care for the population in terms of information, physical accessibility and economy.
In order to achieve economic growth in Latvia, a high priority is to increase the efficiency of the labor force by promoting the retraining of the existing labor force in accordance with the latest requirements of the labor market. Closer co-operation between higher education institutions and employers needs to be promoted and the ongoing reform of higher education needs to be completed qualitatively. FICIL also drew the government’s attention to the need to strengthen existing monitoring mechanisms for the issuance of incapacity sheets to ensure that they are used in good faith.
In order to strengthen the rule of law and achieve a credible and stable investment environment, it is necessary to strengthen the professionalism and capacity of law enforcement agencies by promoting their specialization in complex economic cases, prosecutions and court proceedings, as well as to strengthen law enforcement cooperation. Investor confidence can be achieved through a predictable tax system, so tax reform must be planned in good time and administered in cooperation with the social partners, and tax policy-making should focus more on long-term planning.
The government and FICIL also agreed to continue the work on strengthening the efficiency of public administration by promoting inter-institutional co-operation in detecting economic crime, implementing good governance principles not only in state but also in local government, and launching a comprehensive audit of public administration and local government functions. use.
FICIL has also submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers 11 position documents with proposals in macroeconomics; availability of labor, health care sector; tax policy and administration; in the fight against organized crime; combating economic and financial crime; digitization; in the food and drink sector; investment protection and judicial efficiency; fair competition and public procurement, waste management and energy policy.
The high-level meeting between the Latvian government and FICIL on 11 September was chaired by Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš and Chairman of the Board of FICIL Gunta Jēkabsone.
The Latvian government and FICIL have been meeting at a high level since 1999, with the aim of ensuring a structured exchange of information and views between investors and local policy makers in order to improve the business environment and facilitate the inflow of foreign investment into Latvia. The annual meetings of the Latvian government and FICIL are attended by ministers, high-level officials and managers of FICIL member companies. The next high-level meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia and FICIL will take place in 2021.
About the Foreign Investors’ Council
FICIL is a non-governmental organization that unites the largest foreign companies from various industries, foreign chambers of commerce, French foreign trade consultants 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 to provide recommendations to the government.
Additional information:
Zane Ozola,
Communications Department
Deputy Head
Phone: 67082902
E-pasts: [email protected]
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