PM urges British entrepreneurs to invest in industrial projects

RIGA - During a meeting with British Trade and Investment Minister Lord Stephen Green in Riga, Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis urged British investors to evaluate the possibility of investing in industrial projects in Latvia and promote bilateral trade.

As LETA was informed by the State Chancellery's communications department, during today's meetings, Dombrovskis emphasized to Green the necessity to expand economic cooperation between Latvia and Great Britain.

“Great Britain is an important cooperation partners for Latvia, however, there is still much unused potential in economic relations between the two countries,” said PM.

In his turn, Green praised Latvia's achievements in overcoming the financial crisis. He also agreed with Dombrovskis that Europe needs to observe stricter fiscal discipline, while at the same time implementing growth measures. Green informed Dombrovskis that this is also one of Great Britain's goals, to achieve a balanced budget in 2016-2017.

Dombrovskis also informed that Latvia's priorities in the European Union's next multi-annual budget will be to retain suitable cohesion financing, as well as achieve fairer direct payments for Latvian farmers.

The two sides also discussed the current situation in the euro-zone.

According to the Bank of Latvia, Great Britain's direct investment surplus in Latvia reached 255.6 million euros (179 million lats) at the end of 2011. Meanwhile, Latvia's direct investment surplus in Great Britain amounted to 5 million euros.