EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Latvia, Legislation, Society

The Latvian Cabinet of Ministers made the decision on Tuesday after hearing the report prepared by the Finance Ministry.

The Finance Ministry said that Latvia's participation in the UFGE will contribute to implementation of innovative solutions in gender equality with involvement of the private sector. Latvia would gain access to the information about the UFGE projects which might be of interest to the Latvian companies willing to join some of those projects.

As all Nordic countries already participate in the UFGE, Latvia becoming the first Baltic contributor would strengthen the close Nordic-Baltic partnership in development cooperation, the ministry said.

As the UFGE finances projects in the most underdeveloped countries, Latvia's participation will ensure partial fulfilment of the development cooperation assistance commitments to those countries.

The UFGE currently has 13 development partners - Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, which have contributed USD 72 million in total since the foundation of the facility in 2012.