A quality label for tourist-friendly enterprises is going to be introduced in Latvia, says CEO of the Association of Hotels and Restaurants of Latvia (AHRL) Santa Graikste, reports news agency LETA. So far the quality label has been affixed to approximately ten restaurants in Riga. Deputy head of the Latvian Taxi Drivers' Association Aleksejs Ignatjevs suggests that the label should mark not only tourist-friendly restaurants, but also other tourism sector companies, for example, hotels and taxis. Graikste reports that the label 'tourist-friendly' will identify companies providing high-quality services and a customer-friendly attitude. Currently, representatives of restaurants, taxi companies and hotels are jointly working on elaborating qualifying criteria for the label. Graikste says that so far, while development of this quality label is still going on, the AHRL will continue to use the label 'Safe, qualitative and customer-friendly,' which serves, at the same time, as the label showing which companies are already members of the group.
Two of the captured pirates in the Arctic Sea hijacking fiasco have expressed, through their attorneys, their desire to meet representatives from the Latvian Embassy in Russia. The two, Vitalijs Lepins and Dmitrijs Savins, are residents of Malpils, a small village on the outskirts of Riga. Consular officials are currently settling the necessary formalities to arrange a meeting with the accused, reports news agency LETA. Neighbors of the two men describe them as "honest family men." Relatives have said that they did not know how Lepins and Savins got to the ship, and that they do not believe the two would have participated in the attack. Mystery still surrounds the event, including rumors that the Russian-manned ship was not carrying a load of timber, as reported, but was transporting military hardware, possibly nuclear weapons. The men's wives also don't know what their husbands were doing on board. Police records show the men don't have previous criminal records.
The Chinese Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu will be accompanied by a delegation of 60 businessmen who will participate in a Latvian-Chinese economic forum in Riga on Sept. 1, reports news agency LETA. Chinese business delegates will represent industries including pharmaceuticals, metalworking, textiles, construction, engineering, agriculture, telecommunications and trade. The event will be kicked off by the vice-premier and Latvian Economy Minister Artis Kampars (New Era). More than 120 Latvian companies have signed up to participate in the program, which is being organized jointly by the Latvian Investment and Development Agency and the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. China is considered an important business partner for Latvia, with Latvia interested in expanding cooperation with China. In 2008, the trade volume between the two countries reached 290.9 million euros, including Latvian exports to China worth 29 million euros. Liangyu will be visiting from Aug. 31 through Sept. 2, during which he expects to meet with other high-ranking Latvian officials.
