OREANDA-NEWS. January 24, 2011. Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis met President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Thomas Mirow and Chief Economist Erik Berglof to discuss Latvia’s economic development and growth potential. The meeting was held within the framework of the Prime Minister’s working visit to London where the Prime Minister and the delegation will participate in the UK Nordic-Baltic Summit on economic challenges facing the modern Northern economies.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Prime Minister expressed his gratitude for the successful cooperation between the EBRD and state institutions of Latvia and recognized the support provided by the EBRD for stabilizing the situation of the Parex banka and its reorganization.

The Prime Minister and the representatives of the EBRD also discussed the issue about annulment of the status of the EBRD’s recipient country. Both sides acknowledged that the cooperation should be continued, because the public demand for the EBRD’s funding has increased due to financial crisis. Discussing the strategy of Latvia for the EBRD for the next period, the Prime Minister stressed that the priority areas for future cooperation are the development of the energy sector and energy security, attraction of foreign direct investments to Latvia and infrastructure projects.

Within the framework of the meeting also the presentation of Latvia was discussed that could take place within the framework of the annual EBRD business forum in May, 2011. The objective of the presentation will be to promote the interest of the investment banks and risk capitalists about the investments in Latvia in view of the structural reforms implemented in the country and economic stabilization.

During the discussion about economic challenges and strengthening the competitiveness with Chief Economist Erik Berglof, the Prime Minister emphasized that Latvia should continue to develop its competitiveness focusing on the production and export based on innovative and technologically capacious products. During the discussion the Prime Minister mentioned that the reforms in the system of higher education aimed at increasing the quality of higher education and ensuring the business environment with market-demanded professionals will play a decisive role in restoration of Latvia’s competitiveness.

Latvia has been a Member State of the EBRD since 1992. Since joining, the EBRD has financed 72 projects in Latvia in the total amount of EUR 1.9 billion.