AmCham held an insightful discussion with one of the most successful Latvian entrepreneurs - Lauris Liberts, Founder and Co-Owner of Draugiem Group - to hear his views on accessing the U.S. market and the success of his business ventures. Along with the discussion of the success of Draugiem Group and Printful, Lauris shared a very personal story on what drives him in creating new businesses, where he sees opportunities, and what he is next up to. The session was skilfully moderated by AmCham Vice President Pauls Miklasevics.

This year's World Latvian Economics and Innovations Forum focused on the Latvian economy, including biomedicine, medical technology, pharmaceuticals, green technology, smart energy, transportation, and mobility. It featured numerous speakers including AmCham the President of Latvia, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Mayors of Riga and Liepaja, in addition to a number of successful entrepreneurs and professionals. AmCham President John Tully joined the panel devoted to the future of Latvia's healthcare and biotech sectors and AmCham Vice President Pauls Miklasevics moderated the discussion on the energy sector policies for Latvia in the next 10 years.

On July 1, more than 500 guests gathered at a delightful picnic to commemorate the 247th Anniversary Independence of the United States. The event embraced American traditions, food, music, and various activities. Our gracious host John Tully welcomed everyone to his residence in Mezaparks, setting the stage for a day filled with vibrant energy and enthusiasm. The festivities commenced with warm greetings from U.S. Ambassador Christopher Robinson and co-host Dmitrijs Latisevs, the Chairman of the Board at BluOr Bank. The event involved a wide array of festivities, including a diverse selection of food and beverages, a charity raffle, a quiz highlighting the history and traditions of the 4th of July, contests, and board games.

On June 14, Swisscom hosted Business After Hours with various activities such as presentations on Swisscom's work culture and digital transformations within the telco industry and a guided tour of the beautiful Swisscom office located at the business and office center Verde. The presentations included transformative initiatives, notably the amalgamation of development and operations teams into a unified "DevOps" structure, with the office functioning primarily as a DevOps center.

On June 13, Thought Leaders Series encompassed an enlightening event featuring keynote speaker Dr. Frederik Pferdt with a primary focus on the pivotal role of innovation and creativity in shaping the future. Based on his extensive background as a Google Innovation Evangelist and educational contributions as a professor at Stanford University, unique insights were shared, such as incentivizing the release of antiquated ideas to foster collaboration in generating novel ones and embracing risk in pursuing innovation.