OREANDA-NEWS. October 01, 2013. Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis concluded his visit to Monaco, where he participated in the annual international summit for financial investors and funds’ managers organised by AlphaMetrix. During the meeting with Aleks Kins, an entrepreneur of Latvian origin, founder and manager of AlphaMetrix, an agreement was reached to organise such event in Riga.
 
At the conclusion of the summit V.Dombrovskis addressed more than 700 high level representatives of the financial sector from 43 countries, and shared Latvia’s experience in restoring growth and presented current opportunities for investors provided by economic development. The Prime Minister emphasized the favourable geographical location, a balanced tax system, availability of qualified and motivated labour force, as well as other advantages that make Latvia an attractive destination for investment.
 
Discussing the challenges for European economic growth with Mark Blyth, professor of economics at Brown University, the Prime Minister emphasized that more efforts should be made to restore competitiveness and create new jobs. A delegation of Latvian entrepreneurs also participated in the summit; its representatives met the financial investors to individually discuss the opportunities to invest funds in the Latvian economy. AlphaMetrix is one of the world’s fastest growing platforms for financial investment and investment fund management.

During the visit, the Prime Minister also met Michel Roger, Minister of State of Monaco, and discussed the opportunities for deepening the cooperation between both countries. V.Dombrovskis stressed that in 2014, when Riga will be the European Capital of Culture, it will be necessary to establish closer cooperation between operas and other cultural establishments of the two countries. To expand the economic cooperation, V.Dombrovskis called on Monaco to appoint an honorary consul for work in Latvia. M.Roger and Jose Badia, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Monaco confirmed their readiness to resolve this issue in near future.
 
The Heads of Government of the two countries were unanimous that Latvia’s accession to the euro area on January 1, 2014 will be an additional stimulus for growth in mutual trade and increase in investment volume because the euro is also Monaco’s currency. The officials agreed to launch negotiations between the competent authorities on the conclusion of the Tax Information Exchange Agreement.

V.Dombrovskis and M.Roger also discussed the EU dialogue with Monaco, and the Head of Government demonstrated an understanding of Monaco’s objective to move closer to the EU, concluding a mutual agreement that respects the principles of Monaco in the employment and business areas.
 
The visit of V.Dombrovskis to Monaco was the first visit of the Head of Government to this country after the restoration of independence, while the Prince of Monaco, Albert II visited Latvia in 2011.