Latvia, Legal Counsel, Real Estate

Ainars Slesers. BC's photo.

Slesers says that since he quit politics, he has much more time now to spend together with his family. Slesers also informs that he has not applied for unemployment benefit, and does not intend to.

As reported, the law on residence permits was altered at Slesers' suggestion during the 10th Saeima term of office, and activity on the property market increased as a result. "If we look at the statistics, we will see that more than LVL 200 million has been invested since July 2010 in the Latvian economy in exchange for residence permits. Construction works in Jurmala, which began many years ago, are now nearing completion, and new buildings are being constructed," Slesers says explaining why he has decided to launch a real estate business.

Sometimes people complain that foreigners are buying up property in Latvia. "But if you take a walk in downtown Riga in the evening, you will see how many buildings are empty, no one is living there. The previous tenants have gone, and no one else has come to take their place. Buildings are crumbling, they are not being reconstructed," notes Slesers.

In Slesers' opinion, it is a great challenge – to consider ways for reconstruction of old buildings. It is important to make Latvian construction sector attractive to foreign investors. "It will be much better if people build houses here, if construction workers reconstruct old buildings instead of going to live and work abroad. If they work here, they will pay taxes in Latvia, whereas if they work in Ireland, Great Britain or Norway, they will rather support these respective countries' pensioners," Slesers points out, adding that buildings, even if bought by foreigners, will still remain in Latvia.

In the interview, Slesers insists that he is not planning to make a comeback in politics. Slesers says he has business plans to take care of, but, as a person who has been in politics for 14 years, he will always be following the developments in Latvia, and will always be prepared to comment the current affairs.