We hope everyone had a great Easter holiday and as April is almost over, it is time to look back on what FICIL has done over the past month. Since the Strategy planning session in March, FICIL is focusing on developing and planning the position papers for the upcoming High Council in September 2022 and is in process of organising the Sentiment Index: Election Edition presentation event planned in early June.

FICIL together with Finance Latvia Association, Employers Confederation of Latvia, Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, State Revenue Service, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and others, held an online business seminar on 29 April about “International sanctions on Russia and Belarus- restrictions on movement of goods explained” to inform companies on the practical aspects related to the restrictions on movements of goods after the imposed sanctions on Russia and Belarus.

You will have the opportunity to read more about the event and access the link to the recording of the seminar on FICIL website here.

FICIL Labour Force & Requalification work group, led by Irina Kostina and Claudio A. Rivera held a meeting with Ministers of Welfare and Science & Education on 13 April to discuss requalification policy, possibility to centralise governance over requalification policy and to share recommendations to improve human capital policy. The discussion was also joined by other FICIL work group members. During the discussion FICIL emphasised the importance efficient requalification policy plays in addressing the challenges future labour force.

Also, on 19 April, an article was published in the magazine “Jurista Vārds”, written by the head of FICIL Green Economy Development work group Dace Cīrule, which sheds light on difficulties businesses face amidst a whirlwind of challenges that started two years ago when Covid-19 pandemic began, and now continuing because of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine and the following sanctions.

You can read the full article in Latvian on FICIL website here.

Please mark your calendars – on 30 May at 14:30 FICIL will hold an in-person members meeting that will be joined by the Minister of Defence, Dr. Pabriks. During the meeting FICIL Board will present FICIL’s Strategy and outline the main future focuses of FICIL. Members will also have the opportunity to ask any questions related to the current geopolitical situation and future defence plans to the guest speaker Minister of Defence Dr. Pabriks.

FICIL members will receive an invitation together with the location of the event in the near future.

• On 1 April work group met with Ms. Ieva Ilvesa, Adviser to the President of Latvia for Information and Digital Policy, to discuss data-based decision making, progress of Latvia’s digital transformation and a need for centralised governance over digitalisation.
• On 22 April, work group members met with representative of State Data Inspectorate to learn about public sector’s data processing system compliance with normative regulations and to hear more about the experience of public sector institutions when sharing data.

• Work group met with Mr. Mārtiņš Zemītis from the European Commission on 7 April to talk about the practical side of EU’s Green Deal, the impact of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine and following sanctions on Russia and Belarus on energy security and Latvia’ green goals.
• On 14 April work group held a pop-up group on greening of taxes to share industry specific recommendations related to greening of taxes. Work group emphasised that tax policy should be used as an instrument to encourage business and societies’ movement towards green transition.
• Work group organised a meeting on 28 April to discuss and share any issues  their businesses have experienced when developing alternative energy sources for their own use and because of the increasing energy prices. The work group also discussed the Electric Energy Market Law.

• After the meeting with Ministers on 13 April FICIL sent a letter dated 27 April outlining recommendations to amend the Labour Law in order to foster increased protection to employer when employer is investing in raising qualification and skills of their employees.

• On 5 April work group discussed tax predictability, long-term planning and practical recommendations and steps to reduce uncertainty and improve tax planning. Work group members shared their thoughts.

• On 19 April work group members met to share ideas related to greening of taxation emphasising that greening of taxes does not necessarily mean introduction of new taxes, but rather an opportunity to evaluate the existing system in line with Latvia’ green aims.

• On 25 April work group held its first meeting this season to discuss the Ministry of Health’s proposed strategy for investment in infrastructure development for healthcare until year 2029.
• Also, FICIL sent a letter to Ministry of Health on 27 April outlining its recommendations to the proposed strategy, emphasising the need for greater investment in digitalisation to improve infrastructure in healthcare.

Upcoming work group meetings

Work groups are in the final stage of planning positions papers and entering the writing stage while continuing to meet with different public sectors institutions.

• Tax Policy & Administration work group is planning to meet Ministry of Finance on 3 May to hear more about the EU’s and OECD’s proposals on Pillar I and II, that ensure minimum corporate tax rate for multinational companies. Also, work group will meet internally to discuss tax aspects in combatting shadow economy and recommendations to improve tax administration
• Green Economy Development work group is planning to hold different meetings with Bank of Latvia, Procurement Monitoring Bureau, State Treasury, and others to discuss aspects of green economy development and ensuring green requirements are included in future public procurements.
• Healthcare Issues work group is looking to organise a meeting with Ministry of Health to learn about its proposed investment infrastructure development strategy in more detail.
• Anti-corruption, Economic Crime & Shadow Economy work group is planning to organise a meeting to share recommendations and discuss position paper structure on topic of shadow economy.

You can still sign up for FICIL work groups by filling in the form here or by e-mailing ficil@ficil.lv. Full list of FICIL’s work groups is available here.

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-Your FICIL Team