Education and Science, EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Legislation, Technology

Photo: mk.gov.lv

During the meeting, Kucinskis underlined the necessity to be prepared for new challenges to develop agriculture and carry out necessary economic reforms. The premier briefed the mayor of Eindhoven on Latvia’s reforms and their objectives.

Both officials agreed on the need to develop cooperation between businesspeople and scientists. As far as bilateral economic cooperation is concerned, the region of Eindhoven is an interesting and promising partner of Latvia. The main potential areas for cooperation include innovation, knowledge transfer, creative technology and design.

For several years already, Eindhoven is home to Brainport, an innovative high-tech center. Kucinskis said that Brainport is a good solution bringing together the central and local governments, educational institutions and entrepreneurs. The premier believes that similar solutions might be provided also in Latvia.

Addressing participants of a seminar on technology development in Latvia and other Baltic states at High Tech Campus Eindhoven, Kucinskis said that the integration of Latvian enterprises and their products in global value chains is one of Latvia’s most obvious economic challenges and that there is a potential for bilateral cooperation on this.

“Latvia is developing a knowledge-based economic model. In this way, Latvia positions itself as a country proactively building ecosystem for IT and inter-branch cooperation,” Kucinskis said.

The meeting between Kucinskis and Jorritsma took place during the Latvian prime minister’s visit to the Netherlands. The visit’s agenda also includes a meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.