On 12 March, President Edgars Rinkēvičs held a meeting with the Director General of the State Revenue Service (SRS) Baiba Šmite-Roķe at the Riga Castle. The main topics discussed were the SRS priority tasks, including curbing the shadow economy, enhancing the work of the customs administration, and ensuring the effective enforcement of sanctions in Latvia and across the European Union.
The President of Latvia welcomed the Director General’s declared objective of raising the quality of customer service, and the parties discussed the forthcoming reorganization of the institution.
President Rinkēvičs highlighted the importance of effective implementation and enforcement of sanctions. "Strong sanctions must be imposed to target the Russian economy and undermine Russia’s ability to finance its war against Ukraine. The effectiveness of sanctions hinges on the enforcement and control capabilities at both the Latvian national and the European Union levels. Therefore, it is essential to enhance our analytical capabilities to detect cases of sanctions evasion," said President Rinkēvičs. During the meeting, the parties discussed the case of the continued export of manganese ore from Latvian and Estonian ports to Russia. The President of Latvia expressed concern that the information surrounding this case suggests there are systemic vulnerabilities. E. Rinkēvičs highlighted the importance of strengthening inter-institutional cooperation to critically assess which sanctions opt-outs bear the risk of supporting the Russian military industry. Such cases must be identified proactively and mitigated urgently at the EU level.
Additionally, E. Rinkēvičs and B. Šmite-Roķe discussed the methods and principles of data management in public administration, including the prospect of facilitating the swift and secure exchange of data between government institutions and researchers.
