Business Luncheon ”Development Forecasts and Challenges for 2016 – in Latvia and Europe”

On the 18th of February the ILCC held first Business Luncheon in 2016. At the beginning of year it is very important to understand what we can expect from the New Year. That was the reason why the first Business Luncheon had the topic “Development Forecasts and Challenges for 2016 – in Latvia and Europe”.

In 21^st century one cannot speak about challenges for Latvia, without mentioning topicalities in Europe and globally. For the 21^st century’s second decade one of the most important issue is how to ensure and develop economic growth of the European Union including Latvia. Expert who can tell us about those issues and ideas was the researcher from the Latvian Institute of International Affairs – Mr. Aldis Austers. The guest speaker also spoke about refugee crisis in Europe – about the challenge to the whole European solidarity. In his opinion there is a necessity to think about how to increase the cooperation among European Union countries, because Europe faces difficult times and it would be very dangerous to start huge national movements. Also it is very important is to realize that Latvia can accept a couple of hundreds of refugees because in the countryside the population is critically low and refugees can help us to develop state’s economy.

In 2016 one of the main issue of the European Union will be the forthcoming European referendum in the Great Britain. Speaking about the UK, Latvia supportsthe proposals made by Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council – it is a good basis for a compromise. Respectively, the UK will have a special status in the European Union. This issue is very important for Latvia because in the UK, as in Ireland, a large Latvian diaspora lives. Certainly, the work is still in process, but there are some positive aspects and a progress.

The Business Luncheon was held in the restaurant “Gutenbergs” in the Old Riga. The guests had the opportunity to taste three course meal and refreshments. The food and service in restaurant was fantastic, we wanted to say a huge thank for the generous hospitality.