Latvia needs better advertising

RIGA - In an interview with LETA, the new United States Ambassador to Latvia Mark Pekala said that both Latvia and the United States could do more to promote Latvia as a place where foreign companies could carry out their business activities.
“U.S. entrepreneurs do not know about the opportunities Latvia has to offer. Latvia can do more, and the U.S. government could do more to promote Latvia’s potential, and show that there are many possibilities here. These opportunities must be better advertised. If you are a small company operating in mid-America, you might not have enough information on how good it is over here,” the ambassador said.

Asked whether U.S. entrepreneurs who operate in Latvia have experienced any kind of obstacles in their ventures, Pekala pointed out that there are things that should be taken into account. First of all, he said that business opportunities in Latvia must be promoted more. Second of all, he said that rule of law, transparency, the fight against corruption and the ease of doing business are all things that investors take into account when deciding on expanding their businesses in foreign countries.

“Latvia has made a lot of progress in these areas over the past 20 years. Every country works to improve their business environment, including the United States. The more Latvia does to offer a friendly and predictable investment environment, the better. Investors want to operate in a predictable environment. They do not wish to take risks with their money in countries that are unpredictable,” the diplomat said. Pekala is confident that there is much potential in economic cooperation between Latvia and the United States, and he promised to work to continue to develop this cooperation. “Speaking about specific sectors, there are possibilities in such areas as transportation, logistics and information technology.”

The new U.S. ambassador also sees Riga as the regional logistics center, as Latvia is located in an excellent geographic position for trade with the other Baltic countries, the Nordic countries, as well as with Central Europe and countries to the east.