Several well-known politicians in Latvia were employed as fake consultants by Riga’s municipal public transport company, Rigas Satiksme, according to LTV’s De Facto programme, LETA reports. A court in Riga has accepted Rigas Satiksme’s plea deal, which identifies 16 fictional consultants, including several members of the company’s board and municipal councillors. Some of them represent…
Canada’s Foreign Minister, Mélanie Joly, is visiting Latvia on 1-4 December 2024 to attend the second 3+1 meeting of Baltic and Canadian foreign ministers, Global Affairs Canada announced. The ministers will discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, NATO’s deterrence and defence posture in Eastern Europe, and other regional and global challenges to peace and security. Joly…
Latvian municipalities have begun switching on central heating for households amid the onset of colder weather, LETA reports. Riga’s municipal housing company, Rigas Namu Parvaldnieks (RNP), began providing heating to tenants on 4 October 2024. RNP will turn off heating automatically on warmer days. The Jekabpils municipality will switch on heating in kindergartens first and…
The municipal government of the Latvian capital, Riga, has terminated procurement for the maintenance of the city’s bridges in 2024-2029, LSM reports. After announcing a new tender for the contract, the cheapest offer was 43% more expensive than in the initial tender announced in spring 2024, when both bidders failed to meet the requirements. The…
The Estonian government will allocate EUR 2mn for state-owned rail operator Elron to open a regular passenger train connection between Tartu in southern Estonia and the Latvian capital, Riga, ERR reports. The support would allow Elron to open the new passenger service in spring 2025. Piret Hartman, Minister of Regional Affairs and Agriculture, said that the…
The number of job vacancies in Latvia was 23,900 in the second quarter of 2024, which was 1,400 (5.6%) fewer than in the same period of 2023, according to data from the Central Statistical Bureau (CSP), LETA reports. The number of vacancies amounted to 12,800 in the private sector (down 10.7%) and to 11,100 in…
Lending in Latvia remains slow, with high interest rates compared to the Eurozone, particularly in the housing and corporate sectors, according to the Bank of Latvia, LETA reports. While home loan interest rates have decreased slightly since 2018, they are still two percentage points higher than the Eurozone average, partly due to the dominance of…
Lithuania seeks to attract more flights to the seaside resort of Palanga, BNS reports. The Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Economy, and the Klaipeda Region Association (AKR) have agreed to raise public funds for increasing traffic at Palanga International Airport (POU). AKR unites the seven municipalities in the Klaipeda county. The goal is to…
The number of nights spent by foreign visitors in the three Baltic capitals was highest in Tallinn in the first half of 2024, according to data from the Latvian Hotel and Restaurant Association (LVRA), BNS reports. Foreigners spent 1.075 million nights at accommodation establishments in Tallinn, followed by Riga with 851,000 and Vilnius with 699,000….