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.

LightSpace Technologies, global leaders in multi-focal accommodating 3D AR headsets and glasses free future 3D image displays, has recently joined the Chamber as a Small Business member. It’s mission is to create key enabling technologies that visualizes 3D images, naturally accommodate human vision system and without harm to eyes can be used for long periods by professionals or consumers. We warmly welcome LightSpace Technologies to AmCham!

In a survey recently conducted by AmCham, members revealed top skills required and ways how they are upskilling their employees. The survey also included assessment of the government-subsidized upskilling programs if they have been used by member companies. The results showed that additional training is necessary in the following skill areas: leadership, digital, project management, English and Russian language and data.

Based on our vision statement on Latvian healthcare, in 2021 the AmCham Healthcare work group will focus on carrying out five projects: Oncology Data Registry; Digital Health Strategy; Legal Framework for Secondary Use of Health Data; Health Data Summit and Value based healthcare approach, each of which will be led by a smaller work group. Read more and sign up for projects!

In 2020 FICIL together with Dr. Arnis Sauka from SSE Riga carried out its 6th consecutive Sentiment Index research which points out 3 key challenges: financial issues; adapting to new ways of working and dealing with the uncertainty. The research reveals investors' viewpoint on the challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the best course of action for the economic recovery.

The Foreign Investors Council in Latvia or FICIL is one of AmCham's closest advocacy partners. You are invited to take part in one of its many working groups. The following WGs have scheduled meetings in February 2021: healthcare, labor force, investment protection and court efficiency as well as tax policy and administration. If you would like to take part in one of the work groups, please sign up directly here. Please note that work groups formulate opinions relevant to the business climate as a whole, not individual investors.

Riga Graduate School of Law has recently been awarded the prestigious Jean Monnet Chair by the European Union to strengthen the academic education in EU studies within the project "Excellence in EU Studies at Riga Graduate School of Law". Jean Monnet Chairs are teaching posts with a specialization in EU studies for university professors, awarded by the European Commission in a highly competitive peer-reviewed process.

Transparency International has published the results of the Corruption Perceptions Index 2020. Latvia’s score has increased by 1, from 56 to 57, and ranks 42nd the world (together with Cyprus and Costa Rica) and compared to 2019. While this might be seen as a positive step, the score is still too low and indicates that Latvia is lagging behind compared to other EU and OECD countries.

In cooperation with the startup ecosystem players in our region, Swedbank is launching sustainability co-creation accelerator "Future Hub" with a goal to provide opportunities for market-leading companies to work on their business sustainability challenges by facilitating cooperation with GreenTech startups working in areas such as food, agriculture, mobility, energy, smart cities, supply chain logistics, CO2 tracking and other areas of corporate sustainability. Applications open until February 16!

According to the latest CBRE Riga report, total stock of real estate has grown by 35,000 sqm and exceeded 739,000 sqm at the end of 2020. GBS centres are expanding their presence in Riga (Swisscom, Norwegian Air Resources and others) and rent rates remain stable.

January 2021

Welcome to our latest newsletter. We kicked off this year with an online meeting on the new approach to supervision of the banking sector. Among other webinars were briefings on the development process of a lobbying regulation and the economic forecast for 2021.

In terms of advocacy, AmCham continues with a wide variety of activities. Members are signing up for five healthcare projects to be realized this year. We have just published results of the survey on employer skill needs and are working on particular recommendations for upskilling.

It is the election time for AmCham! We welcome nominations for the AmCham Board of Directors. Serving on the Board offers a tremendous opportunity to make a difference and initiate positive change in the business environment. Please reach out to our Executive Director or any of the current Board members to learn more.

We have prepared many online events for you in the next weeks and look forward to resuming some in-person networking, hopefully, later this year. Click on the links below to register!

Upcoming events

Feb 03, 2021

from 13:00 till 14:00

Feb 09, 2021

from 15:00 till 17:00

Feb 18, 2021

from 11:00 till 12:00

Feb 23, 2021

from 13:00 till 14:00

Feb 25, 2021

from 16:00 till 17:00

Mar 26, 2021

from 15:00 till 16:00

Special Offers

Analytics for media managers by SSE Riga