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The forum will be held from July 24 to July 26, and Krugman confirmed his participation, however, forum organizers have decided to cancel his invite.

Pavel Morozov, one of the organizers, explains the reasons for this decision (quote):

"Invitation of the professor Krugman to the First Riga Economic Forum caused unexpected political resonance: decision-making on Latvia joining the eurozone that should be announced approximately in the same terms as our forum, as well as disagreements due to statements of the professor Krugman politicize too much our event."

"However, as the main aim of the First Riga Economic Forum is to increase attractiveness of Latvia, also for investors, we have decided to concentrate our power on competitive advantages of the Republic of Latvia: transport and logistics, fields of banks and finance, as well as on new, priority branches of economic development – new power industry and new technologies," said Morozov.

Eriks Igaunis, Felix Holding co-owner and the president of the First Riga Economic Forum, said the forum was organized mainly as a platform to gather business people in the territory of Latvia and to find new ways of joint development between Europe and CIS.

The forum, supported by the Economy Ministry, Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and organized in close cooperation with the embassies and the chambers of commerce and Industry of the European and the CIS countries. The forum will focus on banking and finance, logistics and transport, tourism, energy, and new technologies.

Krugman is known in Latvia for criticizing the way Latvia exited the crisis. He has said several times that devaluing the national currency would have been the best way to battle the crisis in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

Krugman says the Latvian government's austerity measures resulted in a major decrease in the gross domestic product, and notes that Latvia's economic growth has still not returned to the pre-crisis level.