President and Mayor agreed that capital plays a special role in our country and inhabitants of Riga and the whole Latvia would benefit from more productive and diverse practical cooperation between the state institutions and city administration. Egils Levits and Oļegs Burovs both underlined the need to ‘bring down the divide’ between the capital and the rest of the country to position Riga as a modern North-European metropolis more successfully.
During the meeting, President Levits raised the issue of shortage of kindergartens in the capital. Mayor Burovs presented Riga’s plans for tackling this problem and reiterated the need to address the availability of kindergarten teachers and caretakers. He also emphasised the issue of the overall prestige of teachers in Latvia. One of the major and key challenges of future education system will be the employment of young teachers in the profession. It will have to be jointly addressed by the government, universities and local governments. Oļegs Burovs assured that he is open to broad-ranging cooperation with state institutions.
Meeting also focused on the Local Government Law drafted by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development and provisions regarding the role of national capital contained therein. Mayor Burovs stressed that it is also necessary to agree on the funding Riga will need to fulfil these new functions.
Egils Levits raised the issue of Riga agglomeration and preservation of the historic centre of Riga. President and Mayor also discussed the future of St Peter’s Church Abas.
