FICIL meets with the Ambassadors of France, Denmark and Finland
FICIL’s Chairperson, Zlata Elksniņa-Zaščirinska, and Executive Director, Tatjana Guznajeva, held productive meetings with the Ambassador of France, Mr. Manuel Lafont Rapnouil, the Ambassador of Denmark, Mr. Morten Jespersen, and the Ambassador of Finland, Ms. Anne Saloranta. These engagements focused on key challenges and opportunities for strengthening Latvia’s investment climate and fostering collaboration with international partners.
The meetings covered diverse, yet interconnected topics critical to Latvia’s economic growth and development. Discussions centered on enhancing Latvia’s international image to attract foreign investors, with an emphasis on the need for a clear, long-term development strategy, fostering transparency, public sector reform, green innovation and combatting shadow economy. The human capital challenges were also brought up, underscoring the need for workforce development through education reforms and vocational training.
A common thread across all meetings was the recognition of Latvia’s potential and the importance of seizing existing opportunities. The defence sector investments emerged as a key opportunity for driving economic growth, with the ambassadors highlighting its ability to drive innovation and technological advancements, creating broader economic benefits.
FICIL is grateful to the Ambassadors for their openness and insights, which reinforced a mutual understanding of priorities and a shared commitment to addressing challenges and maximizing opportunities.
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FICIL meets the new LIAA Director
On November 20th, FICIL representatives met with the Minister of Economics, Viktors Valainis, and the newly appointed Director of the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA), Ieva Jāgere. The meeting provided an opportunity to discuss planned reforms, aimed at improving Latvia’s business environment and enhancing investment attraction. Key topics included the need to develop a coherent and clear long-term economic development strategy that would improve the alignment and coordination of efforts across different ministries, and the urgency of addressing the human capital challenges, thereby improving the quality and accessibility of education and training. FICIL remains committed to collaborating with LIAA and the Ministry of Economics to make Latvia an attractive investment destination.
FICIL at the Conference on the Future of the EU & Latvia’s Interests
FICIL Chairperson of the Board, Zlata Elksniņa-Zaščirinska, participated in a panel discussion organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that highlighted Latvia’s role within the European Union. Among the key stakeholders that joined the discussion were the Ministry of Climate and Energy and LMT, who shared insights on the country’s economic priorities. Zlata emphasized the need for a robust economic growth strategy to enhance Latvia’s competitiveness within the EU Single Market. She also highlighted findings from the FICIL Sentiment Index, pointing to the workforce challenges and administrative burden. Discussions reiterated the importance of positioning Latvia as an innovation hub, leveraging human resources, technology and sustainability.
FICIL at COP29
Evita Goša, leader of FICIL’s Shadow Economy Combating work group, represented FICIL at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. This significant climate change conference brought together global leaders to discuss sustainable solutions for a resilient future. Evita highlighted FICIL’s commitment to balancing economic growth with environmental responsibility, focusing on reducing the shadow economy, promoting green investments, and advocating for transparency. FICIL thanks SCHWENK Latvija for supporting Evita’s participation in this global initiative.
FICIL Meets the European Investors Council
This month, FICIL’s Executive Director, Tatjana Guznajeva, met with Emrush Ujkani, Executive Director of the European Investors Council, to discuss collaboration, challenges and best practices in attracting foreign investment. Both Latvia and Kosovo face similar challenges in showcasing advantages for doing business, highlighting the need for a strong international image and networks.
FICIL Engages with the Latvian SME Association
FICIL recently engaged in a meaningful discussion with the Latvian Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Association. Key topics included the pressing challenges faced by businesses, such as administrative burdens, workforce shortages, and the lack of a long-term economic strategy. Despite their challenges, SMEs continue to drive Latvia’s economic development and call on the government to create a more supportive environment for entrepreneurship.
FICIL: Tackling Latvia’s Shadow Economy
Shadow Economy Combatting Work Group, emphasized the importance of a unified approach to address this systemic problem and called for collective action from government, business and society to foster a fair and transparent economy. In view of Evita, addressing the shadow economy requires a societal shift – public awareness and practical measures, such as promoting cashless wages, can rebuild trust and encourage compliance.
To learn more, read the full interview here.
FICIL Calls for a Long-Term Economic Strategy on “Krustpunkts
On November 27th, FICIL’s Executive Director, Tatjana Guznajeva, joined a panel on Latvijas Radio’s “Krustpunkts” to discuss Latvia’s foreign investment attraction. She stressed the need for a long-term economic strategy to better align public policies and to showcase Latvia’s strengths to current and potential investors. While challenges remain, including bureaucracy and workforce issues, 67% of the current foreign investors plan to increase their investments in Latvia. This reflects positive signs of the investment climate and indicates benefits of doing business in the country, such as export potential, tax policies, infrastructure, and skilled workforce.
For the full discussion, visit this site.
Work Group Merger for Stronger Synergies
FICIL is excited to announce the merger of its Public Sector Reform and Data & Digital Transformation work groups! This initiative aims to foster deeper synergies, modernize the public sector, and drive the digital transformation agenda in Latvia. The merged group will be co-led by Reinis Āzis and Renārs Rūsis, bringing a wealth of experience to these critical focus areas. FICIL extends heartfelt thanks to Edvīns Elferts for his valuable contributions and wishes him great success in leading an AI and automation company.
For more information, please go here.
Work Group Update
In November, FICIL’s Shadow Economy Combatting work group held several key meetings, including discussions with the Ministry of Finance, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FID), and the State Revenue Service (SRS). Olga Bogdanova, Deputy State Secretary for Tax Administration at the Ministry of Finance shared updates on the implementation of the Shadow Economy Restriction Plan for 2024-2027, highlighting educational initiatives, while addressing ongoing challenges in the tax sector and e-invoicing. FID emphasized the rise in fraud cases and shadow economy issues in the construction and logistics industries. On November 26th, FICIL’s monthly meeting with the SRS Director General focused on the key aspects of the Shadow Economy Restriction Plan, while on November 28th the work group met with representatives of the Ministry of Economics to discuss competitiveness of the Latvian economy.
On November 7th, the Energy & Green Economy work group focused on the discussion of the Latvia’s Energy Strategy 2050, highlighting concerns about investment priorities and export potential, as well as, about participation in the National Energy and Climate Council’s Sustainable Mobility working group that aims to address climate neutrality and greenhouse gas emissions. On November 19th, the work group met with the State Environmental Service to tackle issues of environmental compliance, waste management and composting regulations, while addressing transparency and shadow economy concerns.
Labour Force & Requalification work group advanced discussions on the labour law amendments and workforce development through key meetings with the Minister of Economics and social partners. A meeting with the Minister of Economics, Viktors Valainis, on November 20th focused on workforce optimization in state institutions and on implementing employee efficiency measures. On November 22nd, FICIL organized discussions with the Ministry of Welfare, LDDK (Employers’ Confederation of Latvia), LTRK (Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry), and LBAS (Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia) to make further steps in formulating a joint vision on critical labor law amendments, including zero-hour contracts, collective agreements, overtime and on-call duty regulations. The group remains committed to improving labor market flexibility, modernizing employment frameworks, and strengthening dialogue between employers and trade unions.
Public Sector Reform work group advanced efforts in public administration modernization. During the meeting with the State Audit Office on November 13th participants discussed the creation of a public database to track implementation of the SAO recommendations and introduction of a goal-oriented audit approach. On the same day, a discussion with State Chancellor, Raivis Kronbergs, focused on Civil Service Reform, including a potential Performance-Based Budgeting (PBB) system in three pilot ministries and unified state service center development. Meetings with the Prime Minister’s Advisors on November 14th and with VARAM on November 15th addressed PBB, digital transformation and service centralization for public services.
The Construction sub-group reviewed the Construction Industry Strategy 2025-2030, highlighting concerns about its focus on exports, a lack of KPIs, insufficient measures for tackling shadow economy, and support for Small and Medium-Sized (SME) enterprises. A meeting with the Minister of Economics, Viktors Valainis, revealed progress on a unified building registration process, simplified material reuse, and a comprehensive construction action plan. Despite these developments, several challenges concern the municipal authorities, bureaucratic hurdles, and national mineral resource deficiencies.
The Investment Protection work group participated in the seminar on battling corruption, organized by the European Commission. The seminar focused on four pillars – judicial system, anti-corruption framework, media pluralism and institutional checks and balances. In addition, the group reviewed amendments to the Commercial Pledge Law.
If you want to join the FICIL work group, please click here.
Office Update
We are thrilled to introduce our new policy expert, Arnolds Arnis Ābelīte. Arnolds has prior experience at the Ministry of Defence, focusing on Military Infrastructure and Cybersecurity. He is particularly interested in discussions around the modernization of the public sector and the ongoing digitalization initiatives.