Kalnina-Lukasevica at a conference in US describes Latvia as a safe and attractive place to live, work and invest in

RIGA - Latvia can be described as one of the safest countries in Europe – it is a safe and attractive place to to live, work and invest in, not just today but also in the long term, Foreign Ministry Parliamentary Secretary Zanda Kalnina-Lukasevica said at the Spotlight Latvia conference in the US city Denver this Thursday.

LETA was told at the Foreign Ministry that in her speech at the conference’s opening session the parliamentary secretary noted that healthy lifestyle, wellness tourism and eco-tourism, recreation, organic and healthy food, green technologies and biotechnologies were rapidly growing businesses both in Latvia and across the entire Northern Europe.

Kalnina-Lukasevica also stressed the importance of security for stimulating economic growth: "We have a deep-rooted understanding that long-term economic prosperity must be based on strong national security and defense. In the modern inter-connected world, this cannot be achieved without having trusted Allies. Therefore, Latvia is proud to be an active and reliable member of NATO for 15 years already."

Other speakers at the session included the Ambassador of Latvia to the US, Andris Teikmanis; the Latvian Minister of Economy, Ralfs Nemiro; the Director of the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA), Andris Ozols; and the Executive Director at the Denver Office for Economic Development (Denver Economic Development & Opportunity), Eric Hiraga.

The panel titled Medical Services and Healthcare Tourism featured presentations by the Member of the Board of SAF Tehnika, Janis Bergs; the Founder and Head of the Latvian Health Tourism Cluster, Gunta Uspele; the Head of the Latvian Center of Cardiology at Pauls Stradins Clinical University Hospital, Andrejs Erglis; the Chairman of Valmiera City Council, Janis Baiks; the President of the American Latvian Association, Peteris Blumbergs, and others.

The conference was organized by the Latvian American Chamber of Commerce in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy of Latvia in the United States, the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, the American Latvian Association, the World Federation of Free Latvians, and the American Chamber of Commerce in Latvia (Am Cham).