OREANDA-NEWS. June 06, 2008.
1. We, the Government of Latvia and the Foreign Investors Council in Latvia (FICIL), have gathered for mutual consultation and dialog to discuss the Latvia’s economic development and progress since our last meeting, reported the Official website www.mk.gov.lv.

2. High Council meeting was held in the Cabinet of Ministers and was jointly led by Latvia's Prime Minister, Ivars Godmanis, Honorary Joint Chairman of this meeting, and Dr. Gunter Dunkel, Deputy Chairman of the Managing Board of Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale and the Honorary Chairman of the Foreign Investors Council in Latvia.

Progress
3. We recognise that Government has used tools at its disposal to lead the economy towards comprehensive stabilisation — reduction of both internal and external imbalances.

4. Introduction of the Government adopted Macroeconomic situation stabilisation action plan 2008-2009 will serve as the cornerstone of economy-wide transparent structural adjustments which are necessary in the current macroeconomic situation. As a short term plan we also generally endorse the activities contained in the Action Plan to Improve the Business Environment in Latvia for year 2008.

The Development Goals
5. We discussed the macroeconomic situation in Latvia and consider that the current policy stance is appropriate but we also call the Government to be open-minded and be ready to support growth in case economic situation deteriorates significantly.

6. We believe that a qualitative leap towards more efficient planning and implementation processes both on national and municipal levels must take place to ensure that the country offers competitive business environment to foreign and domestic investors.

7. We invite Government to consider seriously and improve the territorial planning and construction approval processes to increase predictability and clarity for investors about the procedures and timelines to be followed when developing industrial investment projects.

8. We discussed the presented FICIL workforce planning survey and believe that the quality of workforce is an issue requiring immediate attention and we call for efforts to integrate Latvia’s economic development strategies with plans that improve workforce education and training delivery systems.

9. We discussed energy policy developments and support recent Government initiative on the development of two new power generation units. We also recognize energy sector attractiveness for foreign investors and invite Government to move forward with the practical steps leading to new generating capacity projects preparation and further support incentives for renewable energy sources.

Conclusion
10. We agreed that in the course of the next year will consider in more detail the recommendations described in the developed Position Papers on (i) Macroeconomic situation, (ii) Workforce planning and labour issues (iii) Industrial investment challenges and (iv) Energy policy, and remain committed to improving the business environment and investment climate in the country by discussing specific as well as broader strategic suggestions and following up the progress of their implementation.

11. Latvia‘s commitment to developing a transparent, predictable and sustainable investment environment in the coming years will be critical to its ability to differentiate itself from other countries and provide investors with high-value services and opportunities that enable them to face global challenges.

12. We recognize that further dialog is necessary and will organise the next meeting between the Government of Latvia and the Foreign Investors Council in Latvia in the spring of 2009.

Notes
On behalf of the Latvian government, the meeting was attended by the Ministers for the Foreign Affairs, Economics, Interior, Education and Science, Welfare, Regional Development and Local-governments, Transport, Health, Special Assignments for Electronic Government Affairs, and Special Assignments for Administration of European Union Funds.

On behalf of the Foreign Investors Council in Latvia, the meeting was attended by senior managers of the following companies: Baltic Car Import, Bite, Cemex, Dalkia Latvia, Ernst & Young Baltic, Fazer Group, GE Money, Hansabanka, Indtec Baltic Coal, Knauf, Latvian Business Bank, Latvija Statoil, Linstow, Narvessen Baltija, Neste Latvija, NCH Advisors, DnB NORD Banka, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Rimi Baltic, Saint-Gobain, Scandinavian Tobacco, SEB bank, Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Stora Enso, Telia Sonera, VAE Riga, Volvo Truck Latvia, as well as the chairmen of seven foreign chambers of commerce in Latvia, representing Denmark, Finland, Germany, Holland, Sweden, UK and USA.