OREANDA-NEWS. June 18, 2012. During the meeting with representatives of the Baltic –American Freedom Foundation (BAFF), Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis extended gratitude to the foundation for its contribution to strengthening the cooperation between Latvia and the USA in the area of education, providing the opportunity for Latvian researchers, students and young experts to deepen knowledge and gain experience in the USA.
 
Valdis Dombrovskis emphasized that the government highly appreciates the BAFF’s active work in Latvia and the foundation’s contribution during the last two years, providing more than 30 students from Latvia with the opportunity to study and work in the USA.

Kim Davis, Chair of the Board of Directors of BAFF pointed out the fact that outflow of intellectual resources is a negative trend experienced by many countries, but growth and innovations require sharing of intellectual resources. Therefore one of the requirements for recipients of the BAFF’s scholarship is the obligation to return and work in Latvia for at least two years, thus ensuring that the knowledge and experience provide the contribution to the Latvian economy.

The Prime Minister informed that a major visit of the representatives and senators of the U.S. congress, as well as entrepreneurs is scheduled in Latvia for the beginning of July, organized to continue to develop the contacts established during the working visit of V.Dombrovskis to the USA in 2011.
 
BAFF’s activities are a positive example of the cooperation between the two countries in the area of education. Bilateral relations of Latvia and the USA are very good also in the political and diplomatic field; however, the emphasis should be laid on promotion of economic cooperation.

Currently, BAFF offers the opportunity to receive scholarships in several programs – professional practice in the U.S. companies, postgraduate studies as well as research. Discussing the opportunities to extend the scope of activities of the BAFF, the Prime Minister stressed that it is strategically important for Latvia to increase the competence of experts in professionally technical and engineering science because they are currently most needed to create the value-added for products manufactured in Latvia in such sectors as wood processing, mechanical engineering, pharmaceuticals and IT.

Since the establishment of the BAFF in 2010, nearly 80 residents of the Baltic countries, incl., 34 representatives from Latvia, have received the scholarships of the foundation.