EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Investments, Latvia
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Thursday, 28.03.2024, 20:29
Foreign Investors Fail to Get Replies from the Mayor of Riga
The last minute cancellation is the third such cancellation
that has frustrated the efforts of foreign chambers of commerce to hear from
the head of the City Council about the vision for city’s development in the
future. The first two last-minute cancellations were by Mayor Nils Ušakovs
(“Saskaņa”), the former Mayor of Riga.
The joint chamber meeting with the Mayor of Riga was
organized by the British, Irish, Norwegian, Swedish and Swiss Chambers of
Commerce in Latvia and supported by BOLT and RISEBA. The meeting was attended
by more than fifty representatives of Foreign Embassies and Chambers of
Commerce.
„The last minute cancellation by the Mayor of Riga sends an
unfortunate message to the foreign investor community in Latvia. We understand
that it is a turbulent time at the City Council, nevertheless it seems that
speaking to investors and attracting new investments to the city is low on Council’s
agenda,“ says Alf Erik Lundgrenn, Chairman of the Norwegian Chamber of Commerce
in Latvia. „We appreciate that a representative of the City Council’s
Investment division was willing to step in and answer our questions,“ added
Lundgrenn, expressing hope for an improved dialogue in the future. In
addressing the foreign investors’ community, Mayor’s place was taken by Rolands
Bogdanovs, Head of Investment Division at the Riga City Council, and Viesturs
Zeps, elected member of Riga City Council ("Latvijas attīstībai") and
Board member of Riga Freeport Authority.
In the conversation with the Riga Council representatives, several
important questions were raised, such as the city’s accumulating debt (more
than 900 mln euros in 2019), city development plans, construction
regulation, public procurement procedures, transparency and mobility. “Of
course with the Mayor not being in attendance, we could not get an answer to
the question of transparency, ease of access to this information and why the Council‘s
debt had increased by about 80% in the past ten years, thus increasing the
burden of tax on residents of Riga,” says Hamid Ladjevardi, Chairman of the
Baltic American Investments.
In side conversations, representatives from companies
operating in all three Baltic countries expressed opinion that contrary to
Tallinn and Vilnius, which appears to have a clear development vision and plan,
Riga’s development has been going in the wrong direction, evidenced by the
city’s depopulation. In the comments, foreign chambers expressed hope that the
capital of Latvia will not only be beautiful, but also smart. The chambers
invite the city leadership to engage in a constructive dialogue both with the
residents of Riga and also foreign investors, who help create jobs and
contribute to the city’s development.