Foreign Service can make a significant contribution to Latvia's economic interests abroad - Braze

RIGA - The foreign Service can make a significant contribution to Latvia's economic interests abroad by working both bilaterally and multilaterally within organizations, Foreign Minister Baiba Braze underlined in her address to participants at the Innovative State Capital Companies’ Initiative Forum on Wednesday.

"The Foreign Service has integrated three political priorities and key objectives - security, economic growth and protection of people - into the work of each department, embassy, diplomat and Ministry division. Since my first day in a ministerial capacity, I have been applying a principle that the Foreign Service must provide active support to promote the country’s economic interests. The Foreign Service wants, and can make a significant contribution to the pursuit of Latvia’s economic interests abroad, working both in bilateral formats and within the framework of multilateral organisations," she said.

"It is important for the government to be an enabler of innovation - including in small and medium-sized enterprises - by building partnerships, providing funding and the necessary infrastructure. Latvia is competitive internationally and the close cooperation between the state, including capital companies, SMEs and the academic community, can further contribute to that. As a small country, Latvia has the advantage of flexibility, which allows it to adapt and develop innovations relatively quickly. We need to make use of Latvia’s ability to rapidly develop and streamline processes in order to make the country a suitable environment for developing new solutions or co-developing them," Braze noted.

The Minister referred to an excellent example - a cooperation project Seamless 5G Connectivity in the Baltic Sea between LMT and LVR Flote, which won the Sustainability Award of the International Association of Ports and Harbors in the Digitalization category this past October 9 in Hamburg.

In the context of Latvia’s digital health sector and its achievements, Braze highlighted the Latvian digital health start-up, Longenesis - it came first in Expand North Star 2024, the largest international start-up competition involving more than 1000 start-ups from all over the world. This is proof to globally competitive solutions being also developed in Latvia.

The Minister also underscored the achievements of the Latvian science sector, especially in the field of quantum, ICT and high technologies, which demonstrate Latvia’s capacity in research and development: "In research in the fields of quantum physics, smart materials, semiconductors and space, Latvia is a significant ‘magnet’ for international partners in search of advanced technological solutions."