Today members met with Kaspars Rozkalns, Director of the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia who outlined main LIAA areas of activity for facilitating foreign investment as well as for increasing export and competitiveness of Latvian companies: green corridor to enable new investment, incentives for investors with funds for staff training, R&D and RRF facility for economic transformation, grants and loan programs to support export growth and grants for SMEs exporting companies.

At the latest Health Work group meeting members focused on the meeting that was held with the new Head of National Health Service on April 7th and the implementation process of five pilot projects in 2021: Oncology data registry, Digital health strategy, Secondary use of health and social data, Health Data Summit and Value based healthcare approach. Members also discussed speakers and topics for upcoming work group meetings as well as ways to share best practices with AmCham EU Healthcare work group.

Today AmCham Healthcare working group held an introductory meeting with Aris Kasparans, Director of the National Health Service of Latvia to inform him about the healthcare projects conducted in 2020 and planned projects in 2021: Oncology Data Registry; Digital Health Strategy; Legal Framework for Secondary Use of Health Data; Health Data Summit and Value based healthcare approach. 

AmCham Latvia had an opportunity to invite members to a live event "Global Human Capital Talks" organized by the AmCham Ukraine jointly with Deloitte Ukraine on the topic of upskilling, main challenges for Latvian business in the area of human capital and main human capital trends in 2021. Experts of the discussion - Renate Strazdina, Country Manager Baltics of Microsoft and Zane Culkstena, CEO of ERDA shared their views on currently top required skills and skills of tomorrow, different skilling programs and an importance of partnership among public and private sector as well as with universities. Revisit the discussion HERE!

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.