Baltic Vision Group, in cooperation with the Latvian University, Latvian Ministry of Foreign affairs and the support from the European Parliament Information Office in Riga, have held a seminar on the ‘Latvian, as EU member-state, economic cooperation with China’ at Latvian University Faculty of Economics and Management. The seminar has been attended by over 90 participants: scholars, students, NGO and business representatives as well as civil servants.

Seminar was attended by: Prof. Roberts Škapars – LU EVF National Economy department;  Māris Graudiņš– head of the European Parliament  Information Office Riga; Ojārs Kalniņš – Foreign affair committee, Latvian Parliament;   Ligita Davidova – Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, head of Economic and Bilateral
Relations Directorate; Prof. Ērika Šumilo – LU EVF,  International economic affair department;  Sergejs Davidovs – Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry;  Dagnija Lāce-Ate – LU PhD in Economy;  Aldis Bulis – Baltic Vision Group Latvia, Research project Manager, LU PhD in Economy.

Durring the seminar the participants have discussed the following questions:  What are the main current topics of the EU and China Economic Relationship?; How does the competitiveness of the Latvian business on the China;s market compare to the competitiveness of the other EU business on the China’s market?; What are the Latvian export promotional activities?; How could Latvian and China economical relationship be enhanced.

The Head of the EP Information Office in Latvia Māris Graudiņš informed the audience that the EU-China relationship is characterized by the search for balance between human rights and trade interests. M.Graudiņš said that the within the EP’s work much attention is paid to the human rights situation in China. China has made some progress in field of human rights, but that is not enough for many Europeans, and thus MEPs in Brussels..

The Chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee in the Parliament of the Republic of Latvia Ojārs Kalniņš emphasized that currently China is the most interesting country in the world, because it is developing rapidly thus affecting all the countries. China is very active in the international environment, including its activity in the EU, therefore EU member states should try to understand what is behind these China’s activities.

Ligita Davidova, a representative from Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia, argued that Latvian exports to China is one of the lowest among the EU Member States, as well as the fact that the interest of Latvian companies in the Chinese market is not large and Latvian companies have difficulties to enter the Chinese market.

Professor Ērika Šumilo (the University of Latvia) commented that the Latvian government and business do not use the research done on China, sufficiently enough to enhance the competitiveness of Latvian companies in foreign markets, including in the Chinese market. Thus cooperation between the researchers and the business should be promoted.

The Head of Foreign Affairs Department in Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sergejs Davidovs said that that a lot f effort has been made to facilitate the entrance to the Chinese market for  Latvian companies, but the interest of Latvian companies in the Chinese market is weak and the opportunities that are given by the EU and the Latvian government are left unused. More interest from business is needed to fully use the opportunities to enter and conquer the Chinese market.

The participants of the seminar have agreed that the EU member states should devote more resources for developing economic relations with China because China economy develops rapidly and the EU Member States should increase the volume of the export to China, to narrow the trade deficit. It is also important to study China’s activities in Europe in order to better understand China’s intentions.

For further information on the event please download the agenda (LV); or contact Aldis Bulis at aldis.bulis@balticvisiongroup.org

The discussion is to take place on the 10/02/2012 in Ogre, Latvia, and will consist of two parts. The panel discussion attended by the MEP Roberts Zile (TB/LNNK / ECR), MEP Inese Vaidere (”Vienotība”, EPP group), MEP Karlis Sadurskis (”Vienotība”, EPP group). Māris Ēlerts – LIAA, deputy director; Jana Briede — head of Ogre municipality development department; Uģis Amons –head of Ogre Business and Innovation Centre; ,Gatis Litvins —  PROVIDUS.

The main questions for the discussions will be: Problems and solutions of the regional development in Latvia, and EU Fund role in the process; How are “innovations” being supported in Latvia, what should be changed; What are the perspectives of social entrepreneurship in Latvia?.

The second part will consist of the group work, where the participants will be able to talk over the following topics: Innovation and new jobs in Latvia; Economic development in the Latvian regions; The role of the Social Entrepreneurship in the development of the Latvian Economy.

All who wish to take part in the event, or have any further questions are welcomed to contact us on info@balticvisiongroup.org or the EPIO at epriga@europarl.europa.eu.

The event will take place at the Ogres Kulturas Centrs, on 10/02/2012 from 14:00 till 18:00. and will be aired live at www.europarl.lv

The event is organized by the EPIO with the support of CAL. Baltic Vision Group is providing technical/organizational service for the event.

BVG Latvia Biedriem.

Vēlos izsludināt to ka 2012. gadā 17. janvārī, Kr. Barona iela 52-12, pukst. 17:00 notiks biedru kopsapulce.

Šīs kopsapulces pamatmērķis būs biedrības jaunas valdes ievēlēsana.

Lūdzu informēt mani par savu nodomu, apmeklēt šo sapulci.

Ar kopsapulces lēmumu varēs iepazīties sazinoties ar Aleksandru Mūrnieku.

Aleksandrs Mūrnieks.

The topic of the discussion was: “”Rail Baltica” railway project: expensive infrastructure or a potential for the Latvian development?”

The discussion was organised by the European Parliament Information Office in Riga , with the support of Baltic Vision Group Latvia.
Main questions on the agenda of the discussion were:
What is the strategic importance of the “Rail Baltica” for the Baltic States?
How will “Rail Baltica” contribute to the Latvian transit and Logistics Industry competitiveness?

The following politician and experts have taken part: Roberts Zile MEP (VL/TBLNNK/ECR); Guntars Jansons Latvian Railway Concern; Andris Maldups Latvian Ministry of Transport; Kalvis Vitolins Latvian Logistics association and Arnis Kakulis AECOM Ltd Latvia, and Talis Linkaitis VASAB as a moderator.

More detailed description of the discussion in Latvian is available via this link.

The discussion was also attended by the decision-makers and stakeholders of the industry.

The high interest to the Rail Baltica project from all the players involved in the industry was proven by high attendance and very lively discussion.

Overall all the industry players agreed that the project was of a vital importance for the development of the Baltic State’s economies, it would help to improve both cargo and passenger connectivity to EU, help develop the economical growth as well as logistics industry in particular. Amid certain concerns expressed earlier in the press, there was little question about the necessity and most importantly viability of the project.  As MEP Roberts Zile explained, important political steps have been made to ensure the needed state support for the project as well as the Latvian Railway representatives confirmed that the project is commercially viable from the point of view of the amount of passengers and cargo that does exist and that will be using the future network.

The main discussion thus focused on the details of the project implementation within the Latvian territory, in particularly on weather to run the new network via the Riga port or not. As Mr Arnis Kakulis presented the AECOM study on Rail Baltica project, the current plans are to have the Rail Baltica run close to Riga, but not directly through it, that would also include creation of a new hub in Salaspils, which in turn will be connected to the Riga port. Thus time will be saved, and significantly more difficult technical issues will be avoided. Mr Kakulis also state that the AECOM study proves that there are no significant gains for the project or Riga port Cargo, in case when the new rail will run directly via the port. Such ideas were not satisfactory to Kalvis Vitolins from Latvian Logistics association as well as other participant, who have expressed their believe, that there are significant gains of running the rail via the Riga port and that it is much more important both, because it would allow to save the costs for the cargo transfers as well as allow the use of the, already existent, hub system in the port. This discussion was ended by npting that the current state of the project allows it to be changed and if sufficient studies are made as well as arguments raised, the network might be projected to run via Riga port.

From other widely discussed issues was the financing of the project, as current plans to finance the project from the EU funds have been unfolded, it was concluded that the full picture of the financing package will have to be made in the next step, and currently the first step of design has yet to be finalised.

For more details on the discussion please do not hesitate to contact the project leader Aldis Bulis on aldis.bulis@balticvisiongroup.org

To download AECOM presentation please press here.

Economic Development Fund was presented at The World Lithuanian Economic Forum.

WLEF was held on 4 – 5 July, the main theme of his year’s event was the creation of a competitive state. Experts, business people and scientists from different fields from all over the world discussed the vision of the world and Lithuania in ten years, the creation of competitiveness through innovations, a partnership between business and science, the encouragement of starting and growing businesses. BVG as part of this visionary group of experts were asked to present the establishment of “Economic Development Fund”. Later BVG member Tomas Buzas together with business representatives participated at panel discussion: “how can the experience they have gained in different cultural environments and social groups enrich Lithuania, help to make the country better known in the world and increase Lithuania’s attractiveness and competitiveness?”, where the author of photography album  “Unseen Lithuania” Marius Jovaiša and other notable entrepreneurs have participated. Among WLEF speakers were : Ilja Laurs, Antanas Guoga, Alan Malus and many others.

Economic Development Fund which will be established by BVG in cooperation with Ministry of Communications of Lithuania and JSC Lithuanian Railways this July in Lithuaniawill differ from other investment funds and economic development organisations present in the market by the following:

1. EDF will consolidate operations of risk evaluation, financial and transactional management under one roof. Such consolidation will allow EDF to serve as a non-conventional investment vehicle able to monitor and therefore to control transactional risks during the operations of the companies in which the investments of the EDF will be placed. In this way EDF will be different from banks and other financial institutions which lend or invest funds, but do not actively engage in the structured monitoring and control of the ongoing business transactions of their clients.

2. EDF will provide full package of turnover capital allocation services for its clients starting with evaluation of the business and ending up with allocation of needed credit facilities by pooling financial resources from governmental economic development programmes, private investments, commercial banks, private equity funds, EU structural funds, etc. Client-orientated consolidated service packages and the establishment of common investment pool based on private equity and governmental programmes will make EDF more capable than either of the mentioned financial providers alone.

3. EDF will create business concepts which could be practically implemented and will implement such business concepts in Lithuanian society via its own economic structure. Such an approach makes EDF different from the other economic development organisations, which usually do not proceed beyond feasibility studies and consultancy services.

4. EDF will implement its own devised business concepts via investments targeted at the broader society, especially SMEs, at the same time engaging the new market participants into educational programmes established in cooperation with Lithuanian educational institutions. This will ensure that EDF has a base of sufficiently qualified clients specialised in running the businesses covered by EDF’s financial stimulation activities.

5. The reasons for creating EDF lie in the need for the increase of welfare of the wider Lithuanian population by identifying the potential of underdeveloped sectors of Lithuanian economy and facilitating practical solutions for empowerment of such potential. Initiators of EDF are planning to allocate 30% of profits derived from the sales of long-term assets held by EDF for investments into projects furthering the social development of Lithuanian society. Solutions orientated to the increase of welfare of the wider population, as well as incorporation of educational aspect into EDF activities makes it different from traditional investment vehicles solely based on commercial principles. The social orientation and transparency of EDF operations will serve as a positive catalyst supporting growth of the fund.

More about presentation (in Lithuanian).

Janis Dirveiks was invited to speak about the BVG views on Baltic region economic security questions at the conference on “Latvian and Baltic security challenges: military and civil security questions/European Identity” that took place during May 13-14th in Ligatne and Riga, Latvia.

During his presentation Janis stressed that the traditional approach of self-sufficiency of the economic stability analysis in Baltic region and Latvia is not sufficiently deep and other factors such as illegal flows, economic shocks and international relationships have to be taken into account.  Please follow this link to have a look at Janis presentation.

The event was also attended by such experts as Latvian Republic Defence Minister advisor on national security questions Airis Rikveillis,  Member of European Parliament Krisjanis Karins and the Latvian President advisor on foreign relation questions Andris Pelse.

Baltic Vision Group participated at the Conference “Lithuania and China: the Potential of the Transportion” on the 28-th of October, 2010, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs kindly invited BVG to present their study on the cooperation of Lithuania and China and Tomas Giedraitis together with Tomas Buzas gave presentation “Establishment of a Transit Hub for China exports: potential of Lithuania”. Tomas Giedraitis focussed on the potential of transportation as well as the idea of the Economic Development Fund. Tomas Buzas meanwhile addressed the challenges for education exchange and the possibilities of educational programmes on China in Lithuania.

Other keynote speakers were the vice-ministers of MFA and Ministry of Transport and Communications, the advisor to the Prime Minister, directors of the Klaipėda’s  Container Terminal and the International Airport of Kaunas among others.

Baltic Vision Group was encouraged to continue their work towards the establishment of the fund as well as with further research topics.

Please follow the link http://www.urm.lt/index.php?1252649303 for the information about the conference in Lithuanian at the MFA’s website.

For more information or if you would like to get the copy of the presentation, please e-mail the project leader Tomas Giedraitis at Tomas.giedraitis@balticvisiongroup.org.

Great news on the “Economic ABC” project! The first articles were published and reached public via the “15min” website. Article 1, Article 2, Article 3. Please follow our website for further updates on the projects, and links to new articles.

For more info on the project, please contact project leader: Ieva Blažytė ieva.blazyte@balticvisiongroup.org

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We are glad to let you know that the conference on Investment Banking Industry in the Baltic States, has taken place with the participation of the Minister of Justice Remigius Šimašius, Daiva Rakauskaite FAA, James Oates Cicero, Žygintas Mačenas SEB, Jonas Kvedaravičius Swedbank, Kornelijus Čelutka MTPV, Tomas Marcinkus Gild Bankers, Saulis Racevičius Synergos Capital International, Irmantas Norkus, Leonas Lingis, Ramūnas Kaklauskas, Šarūnas Šiugžda.

For more information and event files please follow this link.

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The Baltic Vision Group is gravely saddened to hear about the tragic loss of Lech Kaczynski, his wife and so many more on the plane crash in Smolensk.

Our sincere thoughts are with Poland.

With deepest sympathy,